Someone recently commented that there was once a time when a government policy which led to spate of unintended deaths would have been halted to find out what the fuck was going on.
Yet the death toll linked to the horrific Atos run Work Capability Assessment grows ever higher with a spate of tragic suicides reported throughout December. Life is cheap under neo-liberalism and neither the Tory Party, or Labour – who merely say they will replace Atos but the assessments will continue – are opposed to this terrible regime facing sick and disabled claimants.
Barely any of those found ‘fit for work’ by Atos have actually found jobs, despite Iain Duncan Smith’s magical Work Programme. The number of successful appeals against decisions made to throw people off benefits remains sky high. The stress and suffering caused by Atos is more than well documented by hundreds, if not thousands of people on the internet.
Atos once pretended to be one of those fake-fluffy IT firms like google or twitter but are now famous for cruel incompetence. It has only been the hard work of sick and disabled claimants themselves that has made this happen. The pressure must be kept up and all of those who want to live in a fair and humane society should join the fight to rid ourselves of these private sector parasites and bring the Work Capability Assessment to an immediate end.
A day of action against Atos is taking place this Wednesday 19th February. Protests are taking place in towns and cities across the UK including Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Croydon, Hull, Birmingham, Truro, Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Wimbledon and many more. To find a protest near you visit: http://ukrebellioncom.ipage.com/atosdemo/
In Central London protesters will gather outside Atos’ gleaming corporate headquarters in Triton Square near Euston from 10am, more details at: https://www.facebook.com/events/675411662480344/
Please share, blog and tweet details of all events.
And if you can’t make the nearest one to you then @Atos are on twitter where they’ve been unfairly neglected recently.
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
the void 
Reblogged this on Political Pip Spit or Swallow its up to You.
Those of us too ill to come wish you all well, and one day we’ll all get recompense, when our politicians, DWP & ATOS controllers are on trial for crimes against humanity!
http://www.justindoolittle.net/2013/05/meet-republican-who-is-demanding-that.html?m=1
In USA a republican demands that the poor should starve to death
Demanding it tells us this one is a deranged twat. Actually doing it, IDS-style, is worse. And as things stand today it looks as we’re screwed after the next election, no matter what kind of parties take part.
According to my previous posts from liberal conspiracy it seems that the ” transparent ” DWP have decided that the benefit related death toll statistics should magically disappear…what was that stuff they claimed
about holding govt departments to account ? Oh yeah any department except the DWP
obviously. I wonder why that is…
The other thing being that using the now defunct social fund you could apply for financial assistance for funeral arrangements …so DWP kill you then take away assistance to bury you as well.
Then sanction you for attending such trivial matters as a funeral as that all important interview with advisor is much more important I am sure
As everyone knows starving people to death creates jobs for those unemployed …its flawless logic isn’t it ?
bobchewie
and on a poor persons funeral day you know what atos would have to say about that This person is ‘fit for work’
HAROLD SHIPMAN GOT A KNOCKBACK FROM ATOS FOR BEING TOO SOFT!
I was banned from attending my (male) friend’s funeral. It was when I had work programme. I went to the funeral, left the reception early and came back and spent the rest of the day at work programme. Applying for more jobs than usual. They slagged me off for going to the funeral, then referred me to JCP for a sanction. Another friend, they had banned me from seeing at all when she was ill or when she was dying, and stopped me going to the funeral. Several times in the past JCP banned me going to funerals when I was meant to sign on, so I didn’t get to go. There was at least one funeral I missed while on the 2009 workfare digging holes, ironically.
Perhaps it’ll be banned to have a funeral? If you’re poor? “Those peasants can just rot in the street!” Like the play ‘Antigone’. She buries her brother, whose body was left out to rot. That is the law saying bodies must be buried. But another law bans *him* being buried. She is tried and convicted, gets walled up to die, and hangs herself. Great result all round.(!)
the government don’t let you sort your own funeral on this scheme, even if you have no family, or none you’d want anywhere near your funeral
This is why we’d all be so devastated if a bus full of Tories flew over a cliff, and even the vicar couldn’t be arsed to turn up for the funeral!
Health wise I will be going to Dundee to support this protest. I’ve had it marked on my calendar since it was announced.
I hope that many will join in, and not just a few here and there. People really need to stick together and show their distaste against this murdering company and their employers, the unelected coalition!
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/update_about_atos_claimant_death
Atos claimant death toll and Atos staff at GMC.. FOI request to DWP
What a cop out! So they calculate that it costs more than £600 to get someone to compile that data and so because of that under the freedom of information act that absolves them! Man this is rich! What’s the point in having a freedom of information act when they have it loaded with get out of jail clauses? What a con, fraud, swindle, crime this monstrosity of a government is. Excuse me while i go and throw up.
@raining yeah that’s there standard operational bullshit answer. Begging the question how do you hold them to account then ?
“In August 2011, twelve doctors working for Atos as disability
assessors had been placed under investigation by the General
Medical Council because of allegations of misconduct in relation to
their duty of care to patients.What was the outcome by the General
Medical Council of these twelve doctors? Would the DWP update me on
how many other doctors working for ATOS have been placed under
investigation by the General Medical Council? How many cases in
total are currently being investigated by the General Medical
Council and how many were struck off or reprimanded and returned to
work at ATOS again?”
FOI request
now an Atos demo @home page I believe for those who can’t get to a street protest
“For ease of reference I will reply to each of your points in the order you raised them. It may be
helpful if I explain that the cause of death of a claimant is not recorded and the number of people
who after being declared fit for work by Atos Healthcare is not readily available. Information on
when someone has died and the information on fit for work decisions are separate data sets.
We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit of
£600. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for central Government it is set
at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in
determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and
extracting the information. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the Department is
not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing this part of your request
further.
Next you asked about the number of staff working as all Atos sites, all Healthcare Professionals
(HCPs) employed by Atos Healthcare have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria and
are registered with an appropriate professional body such as the General Medical Council
(GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or the Health and Care Professions Council
(HCPC). The DWP Chief Medical Adviser (CMA) approves HCPs to carry out assessments.
Approval is dependent on strict recruitment criteria, completion of a course of training in
disability assessment medicine approved by the CMA and evidence of satisfactory performance.
Atos currently employs 73 physiotherapists, 631 nurses and 238 doctors, these figures include
doctors and nurses who are managers.
In the last part of your request you asked for information about the numbers of doctors under
investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC). The GMC holds all records of enquiries
and investigations; Atos does not hold this information centrally. Any information provided to
Atos by the GMC regarding the outcome of a GMC investigation would only be recorded on a
doctor’s individual records. We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would
exceed the appropriate limit of £600. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and
for central Government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 3½ working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, and
locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under section 12 of the Freedom of
Information Act the Department is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be
processing this part of your request further.
Yours sincerely
Business Management Team
Health & Disability Assessments (Operations)
[email address] ”
Basically the DWP is saying fuck off none of your business…how nice of them.
It’s a little like having expectations that those that tortured and killed the Jews in the Holocaust would ever admit to anything other than = ‘Ve vas only carrying out orderz!’
The £600.00 limit was obviously brought in as a scapegoat for the mistake of ever letting the FOI legislation sneak past Parliament.
Reblogged this on Diary of an SAH Stroke Survivor.
“UK Government Pays Sex Clubs to Employ Teenage Girls”
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/uk-government-pays-sex-clubs-employ-teenage-girls-1436637
I’m forever amazed at how much the politicians and their slimy associates can take the piss out of the public, and get so little reaction. We must all be zombies!
The article lists a lot of auxiliary jobs at adult venues. I would be prepared to do the following on the list: receptionist/guide, admin/office, booker (of dancers), photographer/cameraman, producer/director, assistant technician. (Not big enough, or ablebodied; so can’t be a bouncer) Could also do ‘Person who phones the police when clients are dodgy’.
Unfortunately, the article says the scheme is for people aged 18-24. I’m too old!
Maybe I could publish a book instead? ‘1001 Uses for a dead IDS’?
Recycling the dead? At least we get to eat! Want frys with yours?
(I was too frightened to suggest recycling the wealth) – in case I get that hammering on the door from the EDL over the road. What a wonderful planet we exist on.
Reblogged this on gingerblokeblog.
Fuck these Nazi bastards!
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 7th January 2014. You asked;
Further to your “Accepting and advertising employer vacancies from within the adult
entertainment industry by Jobcentre Plus Coalition Government Response to the Consultation”
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/184717/adult-
entertainment-gov-response.pdf can someone get JSA or UC benefits sanctions if they do not
apply for the “Acceptable Jobs within the Adult Entertainment Industry” published on 6 January
2014 in your “Chapter 20 Youth Contract – Wage Incentives” guidance
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wp-pg-chapter-20.pdf and anyone not considered as ‘youth’?
If a claimant fails to apply for or accept a suitable job, they may receive a sanction unless they
can demonstrate that they have a good reason for their failure.
A claimant can however, object to applying for jobs in a particular industry or with a particular
employer for their own personal reasons. For example, someone may have a moral objection
to working in the adult entertainment industry, in this case a sanction would not be applied,
however they would still need to show that they have reasonable prospects of finding a job
elsewhere.
For any future requests for information you may have, it may help if I explain that the Freedom
of Information Act requires public authorities to provide copies of information they already hold
in a recorded form, subject to certain exemptions. However, it does not require the Department
to provide opinions, explanations, generate answers to questions, or create or obtain
information it does not hold. Requests for a bespoke answer to your correspondence outside
of the Freedom of Information regime can be emailed to [email address]
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
——————————–
So the answer is…yes you can be sanctioned for not applying for work in sex industry but if you object ( which can open up a whole can of worms ) you don’t get sanctioned but knowing how fucked up DWP is. Who knows …
It adds the same rider at end which is get out about what they consider public interest and usual crap about info they don’t or can’t be arsed to hold
No surprises there then. The DWP are full of tits who couldn’t organise a piss up in the pub..
@AWP yes but they have left themselves open with this ” you can object on moral grounds ”
Using that you could object to almost anything ..providing you are ” actively seeking work ”
And able to prove it.
“however they would still need to show that they have reasonable prospects of finding a job elsewhere.”
This clause violates the DDA. Many people on JSA, and most people on ESA-WRAG, are *too sick/disabled to work*. Precisely the thing that stops them getting jobs; and their disability counts against them in applying for jobs they do/don’t want. If you have NO realistic prospects of getting ANY job, whether or not you could do the job, it looks like the DWP can use this clause against you as a punishment for making an ethical objection to applying for a specific vacancy.
The day after you are sanctioned, your disability does not magically go away.
ATOS is so incompetent that the BBC dismissed them from work on s new IT system of some sort, took the work back in-house, and let another company fix the mess and finish the job. This was a total wadte of money. . See this http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/24/bbc_dmi_killed_cto_suspended/ .
@George. From what I hear Atos reputation stinks and organisations are distancing themselves from them
However I guess Crapita will take over ..or Serco
http://blogs.citizensadvice.org.uk/blog/katharines-story/
CITIZENS ADVICE BLOG. ( the CAB are collecting stories from claimants about their
Experiences so if you want your can submit them )
Katherine’s Story
Despite constant Freedom of Information requests the Department of Work and Pensions refuses to release any further statistics for the years 2012 and 2013 on deaths of claimants who have died within 6 weeks of Atos finding them fit for work.
In fact Freedom of Information Requests have been refused on the grounds that such requests are “vexatious” to the Department of Work and Pensions.
It is estimated based on the DWP figures for 2011 that upwards of 20,000 disabled and ill people have died within six weeks of being declared fit for work by ATOS.
In 2012 the average rate of deaths leapt from 32 per week to 73.
Posted from welfare news service
Press release
Pilot schemes to help people on sickness benefits back to work
Organisation:
Department for Work & Pensions
Page history:Published 4 November 2013 Policy:Helping people to find and stay in work Topics:Employment and Welfare
People on sickness benefits will be required to have regular meetings with healthcare professionals to help them with their barriers to work.
People on sickness benefits will be required to have regular meetings with healthcare professionals to help them address their barriers to work – or face losing their benefits – in a two-year pilot scheme in central England which begins in November.
Around 3,000 people in the work-related activity group for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) living in the Black Country, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Staffordshire and Shropshire will take part in the scheme.
People involved in the pilot – who have all been assessed as being able to work at some point in the future – will have regular appointments with healthcare professionals as a condition of receiving their benefit, to focus on helping them move closer to being able to get a job.
The pilot will compare the help given by healthcare professionals to 2 other pilot schemes offering employment-focussed support to see which is most effective at helping people off sickness benefits and into work.
One in southern England (Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, Surrey and Sussex, Thames Valley, Greater Wessex and Gloucestershire and West of England) will give enhanced support from Jobcentre Plus. The other in North East England (Durham and Tees Valley, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and North East Yorkshire and the Humber) will see Work Programme providers increasing the help they give to people on sickness benefits.
Employment Minister Esther McVey said:
It’s really important we give people who are disabled or have a health condition the support they need to get into work if they are able. Traditionally, this help has tended to be work-related, but this pilot will look at whether a more holistic approach is more successful in helping people to manage their conditions and so break down their barriers to work.
The regular discussions with healthcare professionals – which will be provided by Ingeus UK – will not replace someone’s GP, but can promote health support and help a claimant to re-engage with their GP if they are struggling to adapt to their condition. They will also signpost claimants to activities and information to help them manage their condition to improve their readiness for getting a job, and work with local services to provide a holistic approach to health interventions.
More information
The pilots will begin in November 2013 and will run until August 2016. They will involve people on ESA in the work-related activity group who it is hoped would be able to return to work in 18 to 24 month’s time. People will be selected to take part in the trial on a random basis.
The Health Care Professional-led pilot uses funding from the European Social Fund.
Ingeus UK Ltd have been awarded the contract to provide healthcare professionals for the pilot following an open tendering process.
In total, around 8,300 people are expected to take part in the 3 pilots.
And people trust them, – like a string of sausages in a dog pound. Where’s Russel Brand when y’need him for the revolution?
@Boadicea. It looks like this rotten govt is falling apart what with Clegg wanting to join Labour now..
Yes! That news fills us all with confidence in HIS truth a little like Richard Nixon being reincarnated.
He’s pissed off because no one believed he was a champion of the poor. He’s back to what he does best: licking upper class arse!
I think I would still go for him rather than ‘the Millipedes’ as champion for the poor. And I thought he was supple enough to lick his own arse?
Does he really need the upper classes? He can’t be short of money.
He’s a vain fuck craving attention. You don’t really believe he cares, do you?
Just because he gets more sex than Dunking Doughnuts? 🙂
I don’t really believe in much at all these days. Considering = ‘Lying slimy crook’ is a requisite for even starting out on a career of being a politician of any denomination or party.
Barriers to work can often be insurmountable and unchangeable. Like ‘being too bloody ill to work’. If there was NHS treatment available to cure all disabilities? – but there isn’t. Some conditions don’t get managed, THEY manage YOU.
JCP makes us kind of lie in applying (under duress!) for jobs we know we can’t do and are too sick to get, pretending to be ablebodied, knowing if we started the job we’d soon be sacked or have to leave for health reasons. And who wants to employ liars?!
JCP rules make us more unemployable, by demanding that we lie about our health!
Nick Clegg hints at possible coalition deal with Labour in 2015
http://gu.com/p/3mnpx
CLEGGY HINTS AT COALITION DEAL WITH
LABOUR.
Oh dear its all falling apart with this stupid govt it seems
he wont be there to make deals with anybody.
His party will be too maimed to make a coalition worth it when the voters reduce it to dogmeat.
Looking forward to the demos. Hope to get to one in Glasgow, It isn’t far from my place.
Regards Nicholas Clegg, MP…..This miserable poodle dog of a guy is delusional in the extreme!
There won’t be enough Libers left for a five a side football team never mind have a coalition wid anyone.
I doubt he is gonna be in Parliament to worry about who holds power next time round. The Libers are doomed.
I hear there are voices in his party not happy wid him, but it is all too late now. We have many of the problems regards Social Security today, such as ATOS, benefits sanctions, workfare and of course the Bedroom Tax, which poodle dog Clegg has supported all the way.
Some of these policies would not have happened but for his creeps backing..
I do note “The Poodle”(sorry all you pood dog lovers) did say Labour has changed. Yups! Labour has changed into the Thatcher minor party. Where is their denunciations of what is happening, but for a mere handful MPs ?
It is appalling
I don’t get it..just sack Atos and A4e and Crapita and get our money back .
I bet they have lawyers and fine print that says they don’t have to deliver on payment by results and that they don’t have to pay back monies either.
That would not surprise me at all..either this govt was stupid to agree with that or connived with them
Your spellchecker needs fixing, I think. Here’s the microsoft paperclip to help us out:
“You mistakenly typed ‘sack’. Did you mean ‘hang’?”
@Gordon they have had a taste of power after being in wilderness forever so they don’t want to lose that …if they joined labour they would fall out with them anyway
Poodles are lovely dogs, the big ones anyway. In Scotland a clegg is a biting fly like a horsefly.
How about chats? An oldfashioned word for fleas or body lice.
How do you make fleas or lice look cute? Compare them against the Tories.
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog.
Here’s the reverse IP lookup for ‘searchjobvacancies.co.uk’ – the fake job website that Universal fuckedupjobmatch likes to freely advertise. Upon checking the server origin, Amazon.com has a strong connection with this dodgy third-party recruitment website (searchjobvacancies). and further checks I have carried out give an unknown private address in Glasgow, UK claiming to be the headquarters of this external job site…
http://www.searchjobvacancies.co.uk.ipaddress.com/#reverseip
@AWP you mean that tax avoiding Amazon company ?
Oh I wonder what’s going on there
After all DWP have been promoting Google of late …
@AWP Seattle Washington ?
A jobsearch UK site is registered with Amazon in Washington ?
@ Bobchewie..
Yes. I also went on various other Reverse IP Lookup websites and the same information (server location) about that external job website came up
Another fraudulent selling/phishing scam could happen with amazon, the same way that eBay were caught out gaining people’s CV’s and linking them to people using eBay for buying and selling.
@AWP there is websitethat that can ccheck if a website is a scam operation .
I did a check on this one which reported that this site was 84% ok..however it went on to say it did not prove it was kosher..
Although registered in USA it still could be UK site it also said .
@AWP there is websitethat that can ccheck if a website is a scam operation .
I did a check on this one which reported that this site was 84% ok..however it went on to say it did not prove it was kosher..
Although registered in USA it still could be UK site it also said .
So you cannot tell..
Registrant
Recruitment Drive UK
Unknown
Glasgow, Scotland G41 2LE
UNITED KINGDOM
(http://www.searchjobvacancies.co.uk.ipaddress.com/#reverseip)
There’s one single job on the site. Sales Trainee.
In regards to that so-called recruitment website, I have only even seen ‘cafe assistant” ‘shop staff’ and ‘sales staff’ advertised on there for weeks now. These three fake jobs are constantly advertised all of the time and never seem to be filled. Job descriptions are at best vague and non-helpful. No company name, company location or salary details have ever been seen on there.
Every time I go on there to apply for a job I input random fake names and e-mail addresses, never adding my CV as I know it could be used for harvesting purposes.
Nothing to do with Amazon… Its simply a hosted service (Amazon Web Services) similar to Google’s offerings.
Yes, they all evade tax…
You might be interested in this link:- http://intensiveactivity.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/universal-jobmatch-list-of-fake-employers-part-1/
“Why Atos Healthcare?
Jobs in Disability Assessment
Non Clinical Roles
Testimonials
Why Atos Healthcare?
Staff members include employed clinicians, sessional doctors, operational managers, administrators and support staff.
In the UK, we engage both doctors and nurses to deliver our services.
At Atos Healthcare, we respect and reward achievement. We offer job opportunities throughout the UK, within a GMC approved environment, and with competitive salaries and benefits which can include bonus plans and flexible working hours.
Competitive base salary
We are committed to paying competitive salaries and carefully monitor the salary market. We also believe that individuals should be rewarded with a market-leading salary when their performance demands it. Salary levels are reviewed annually as a minimum.
Competitive benefits
Our comprehensive package of benefits can include:
Private healthcare – to meet our commitment to your wellbeing, we offer private healthcare as a ‘peace of mind’ benefit
Company contributory stakeholder pension scheme – an attractive scheme where we match all your contributions up to 10%; with the lowest charges and class-leading communications, we make saving for retirement as simple as possible
Life assurance – ***our death in service benefits ensure additional peace of mind”***
Working for Atos Healthcare blurb
“Our death in service benefits ensure additional peace of mind ”
Anyone find that ironic. ?
Off Topic. Bedroom Tax. “A Simple Template Letter To Kill The Bedroom Tax” http://welfarewrites.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/a-simple-template-letter-to-kill-the-bedroom-tax/ Thanks to Speye.
Other interesting c**p related to ‘Searchjobvacancies.co.uk’…
Registrar
GoDaddy.com, LLP. [Tag = GODADDY]
Creation Date
03/24/2012
Updated Date
01/21/2014
Expiration Date
03/24/2015
Registrant
Recruitment Drive UK
Unknown
Glasgow, Scotland G41 2LE
UNITED KINGDOM
Nameservers
ns61.domaincontrol.com
ns62.domaincontrol.com
** I’m curious to know if I am not the only person to come across that external website. Answers on a postcard to the baldy, ugly fucktard who fucked up everybody’s JSA for illegal sanctions leading to hardship, evictions, death, and other crimes that would make Hitler proud. Let’s sack the fucking tick turd before he commits yet more mass murders through the bedroom tax…
The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State
Department for Work and Pensions
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9DA
If this government isnt close to one of the darkest chapters of modern history i dont know NICE rejects government’s ‘anti-elderly’ drug proposals
“Health experts have rejected government proposals that would see an assessment of the benefits a patient may have on society being taken into account when deciding whether to pay for new drugs.” Benefit to society.. what is the betting that they will extend it making the health of the unemployed not a benefit to society.. eugenics 2014
Reblogged this on The Greater Fool.
THIS EXTRACT FROM A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION RELEASE EXPLAINS WHY THE DWP CAN MURDER PEOPLE AND WALK AWAY…………………………..
For ease of reference I will reply to each of your points in the order you raised them. It may be
helpful if I explain that the cause of death of a claimant is not recorded and the number of people
who after being declared fit for work by Atos Healthcare is not readily available. Information on
when someone has died and the information on fit for work decisions are separate data sets.
We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit of
£600. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for central Government it is set
at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in
determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and
extracting the information. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the Department is
not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing this part of your request
further.
“MURDER IS MURDER, WHICHEVER WAY YOU LOOK AT IT”
geoff
pity it’s not football, coz they’d have stats on, if a players haircut affected their goal scoring heading abilities..because they would want to know…
oh wait, they don’t want to know do they…
@GEOFF I already posted that I think
MEMOS WERE SENT TO THE RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS, STATING THAT CUTS TO DISABILITY CLAIMS COULD LEAD TO SUICIDES……
If you have no history of claimants and links to suicide why did you issue a memo to jobcentre managers a year ago?
Jobcentre bosses warn of suicide risk among benefit claimants
An internal email sent by senior managers warns that ill-handling of benefit changes could have ‘profound results’ for vulnerable claimants
The Guardian, Wednesday 20 June 2012 12.31
Senior jobcentre executives have warned staff of the risk of benefit claimants attempting suicide as controversial changes to sickness benefits are being pushed through.
The warning, contained in an internal email sent to staff by three senior managers of the government-run jobcentres, warns staff that ill-handling of benefit changes for vulnerable claimants could have “profound results” and highlights the case of one suicide attempt this year.
It emphasises the need for the “utmost care and sensitivity” when dealing with customers, as a result of “difficult changes which some of our more vulnerable customers may take some time to accept and adjust to”.
The email, adds: “Very sadly, only last week a customer of DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] attempted suicide” – which it adds is “said to be the result of receiving a letter” informing him that his sickness benefit would be cut off.
The memo will crystallise concerns among charities, campaigners and medical professionals over the impact of welfare reforms on the mental health of some of Britain’s most vulnerable people.
Disability campaigners privately warned ministers last year that flaws in the work capability assessment, would lead to some mentally ill people taking their own lives. But they said they were accused by ministers of scaremongering.
Neil Coyle of the charity Disability Rights UK, said: “The government is cutting direct support for thousands of disabled people and using a process to do so which is unfit for purpose. The assessment process for out of work benefits needs urgent improvement to ensure genuine needs are identified properly and to avoid further tragic consequences.
“We and our members warned the government – and DWP especially – of the impact of cuts in support but the problem has been swept under the carpet in the rush to deliver cuts in welfare expenditure. Numbers on a balance sheet have been considered more important than the lived reality of disabled people sadly.”
The memo was sent in late April, days before the controversial change of time-limiting contributions-based employment and support allowance was introduced, which will see thousands of sickness benefit claimants with a working partner or some savings lose up to £91 a week in support.
The email sent to jobcentre staff emphasises the importance of being “empathetic” with vulnerable clients, “taking the time to properly understand their circumstances … and talking through their options or signposting them to other sources of support/advice”. It adds: “The consequences of getting this wrong can have profound results.”
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West Labour MP Tom Greatrex said: “The DWP should take seriously the potential impact its decisions can have on people’s lives.
“The ‘one size fits all’ nature of the work capability assessment is at the root of the problem. A crude computer test of fitness to work leaves little room for a consideration of the affect on mental health.
“It’s not just those with pre-existing mental health problems who are at risk. People suffering from conditions such as Parkinson’s and cancer find themselves in distressing situations, with added anxiety caused by these tests. At a time when they need help, too often they feel they are being hounded.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “It remains rare to find incidents of self-harm where the benefits system is said to have been a factor, but we are not complacent when it comes to ensuring that our staff can provide the right support and help to those affected.
“We ensure our staff are highly trained and ready to help people, however vulnerable they may be and whatever pressures they face.
“We have worked hard – and continue to do so – to improve the way the work capability assessment works for those with mental health issues, but it is right to reform the welfare system. The old incapacity benefits system let down too many people by simply writing them off to a life on benefits, which did nothing for their wellbeing.”
But the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents Jobcentre Plus staff, says that they feel ill-equipped to deal with the volume of work, vulnerable claimants and cutbacks.
One jobcentre telephone adviser told the Guardian that the change had been handled “abysmally” and that they feel ill-equipped and “helpless” when talking to distraught customers on the phone, who are phoning up to ask about other options.
“A lot of them are very distressed. They are asking us what to do … how are they supposed to live. And there’s nowhere else we can signpost them to, there’s literally nowhere for them to go.”
Several coroners’ reports into suicides have mentioned benefits decisions as a contributory factor, but ministers have always been careful to avoid acknowledging a link.
The Guardian has spoken to dozens of benefits workers and recipients as part of an investigation into the problems faced by Britons living on the breadline and identified three separate cases of attempted suicide among people where changes to their benefits appeared to have been a factor. Several others claimed to have felt suicidal.
Speaking in the Commons recently, the employment minister, Chris Grayling, said: “We will always look very, very carefully indeed where something like that happens. So far my experience is that the story is much more complicated. But that does not mean we are not doing the right thing.
“I passionately believe that we should be helping [people], particularly those with mental health problems. I have met people who have been out of work for years and years and years with chronic depression who we are now beginning to help back into work. We have got to be very careful but we do look very carefully when those situations arise.”
geoff
the omission/denial is that they cause the vulnerability in the 1st place by cause of these draconian and unnecessary cuts…sick and disabled people are vulnerable because of sickness and disabilities in any case, cutting off vitals obviously worsens this situation, as any one who has their only source of income removed, well knows…they cause unpredictability, therefore anxiety, from the claimants pov…
@GEOFF yeah but the DWP lost a court case over mental health discrimination didnt they ? And what was the response ? Ignore it and carry on as it ” BUSINESS AS USUAL ” to quote the dwp internal memo
This was one of the blogs from BLACK TRIANGLE website.
It is truly indicative of the actions of the DWP in the demonisation of the weakest, the disabled………
Nicola says:
May 8, 2013 at 9:06 pm
My son is suicidal after been refused dla and ESA , the police have been out concerned for his safety , he has nil income and no benefits , he suffers with symptoms of aspergers and ADHD anxiety and depression . His doctors sick notes are been if ignored . Please help he is mentally unstable and 21 now .
These are the pleas of a mother for her sons well being……
“TAKE A GOOD LOOK GUNNYEON” , YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT….
And yet another;
paul says:
May 8, 2013 at 6:58 pm
i’m currently awaiting a date for tribunal, having been turned down in the first stage…
i’m stressed up to the limits as i had a break in benefits due to atos(small a) last april(2012) for a few months and the misery that ensued…
i have nothing else to live on and i’m beginning to feel suicidal… if they cut me off entirely.. i’ve had it…
THE DEATH TOLL CONTINUES TO RISE AS YOU PRETEND TO LOOK AWAY………
In the letter to her son, Steven, 27, she had written: “Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.”
Stephanie was tormented over having to find £20 a week to pay for the two under-occupied bedrooms she had been assessed for.
Days before her death she told neighbours: “I can’t afford to live any more.”
Solihull council Labour group leader David Jamieson, who knows the family well, said: “I’m absolutely appalled this poor lady has taken her own life because she was worried how she would pay the Bedroom Tax.
“I hope the Government will take notice and reconsider this policy.”
this is not suicide exactly, but also murder, by IDS.
SOME of the Capital’s most vulnerable residents are being subjected to “enormous avoidable suffering” as a result of fitness-to-work benefits tests, prominent city GPs have said.
The controversial assessments are carried out by private firm Atos on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), to decide eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
One Leith doctor said five of his patients had made attempts on their own lives due to the stress of the workplace capability assessments, which can lead to claimants’ benefits being changed or stopped.
Link to this
Dear GEOFFREY REYNOLDS,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 8 May 2013.
You asked:
I have noticed that when claimants go online when making claims, a box
appears that asks the claimant what steps they have taken to find
employment. the box accepts a maximum of 250 characters.
[1] Can you tell me if any claimants have mentioned if they are
experiencing any form of suicidal thoughts when giving a response?
[2] If this was the case, would the claimant be contacted prior to
anything happening?
In answer to [1] above: You are asking for the personal details of other people. The information
is withheld as it falls under the exemption in Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
2000; this exemption covers personal information. Personal information about another person
cannot be disclosed to a member of the public without the consent of the person who the
information is about, as unauthorised disclosure would contravene the data protection
principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.
In last night’s Nolan Show there was an interview with Esther McVey and some heart-rending testimony from disabled claimants.
One woman in tears who scored 0 points in the WCA assessment had suicidal thoughts. Nolan calmed her down and her stay on the line to speak one of the team behind the scenes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02lz5bx
@GEOFF didn Fester McVile actually say that she would not rule out scrapping Atos WCA. or was she just mouthing off ?
After all its a big contract for them…no doubt get another murdering company in to do it…what bugs me is the claim that A4e claimed they had a hand in setting it up.
I think Esther wanted to replace it with ZYKLON B showers, but the cost of creating viewing areas for the senior staff of DWP was prohibitive Bob.
Nah, these days they’d just get a webcam and watch it during an atos clusterwank
Dear Department for Work and Pensions,
On the 13th february Lord Fraud made the following statement in the
Lords;
“I turn now to ESA. At the moment, if someone appeals a refusal of
ESA, it can continue to be paid pending the appeal being heard;
this is not changing. What is changing is that there can be no
appeal until there has been a mandatory reconsideration. So there
will be a gap in payment. In that period-and I repeat that
applications will be dealt with quickly so that this is kept to a
minimum-the claimant could claim jobseeker’s allowance or universal
credit. Alternative sources of funds are available. Of course, he
or she may choose to wait for the outcome of the application and
then, if necessary, appeal and be paid ESA at that point.”
,,,,,,,,,,,,I HAD MY ATOS EXAMINATION OF JULY 2012 AND HAVE BEEN GETTING £32.32P PER WEEK TO LIVE ON SINCE LAST JULY.
All Atos HCPs are qualified and registered with their respective medical bodies, the General
Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council or Health and Care Professions Council, there
is no requirement for a medical body to recognise or endorse the training for the disability
assessment of benefit and there is no final certificate issued at the end of the training.
ANOTHER LIE FROM THE DWP, THE ATOS HCP’S ARE ISSUED WITH A CERTIFICATE, ONLY RECOGNISED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND NONE OF THE MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS……………
Having reviewed the Department’s response to your previous request, reference FoI 2053, I
have found that question 2 has clearly been answered. To reiterate the previous response,
there is no certificate issued on completion of the training. In addition, there is no requirement
to endorse the training for the disability assessment of benefit. The Department does not hold
the information you have requested and I have nothing further to add.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
Business Management Team
Health & Disability Assessments (Operations)
[email address]
…………THE CERTIFICATE IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE
Dear Mr Reynolds,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 23 April 2013. You asked;
You recently quoted these paragraphs below, in a FOI request I sent you.
The European Convention of Human Rights does not give an automatic right to receive
benefit. Where a State does provide benefits, there is no right to a particular amount. The
Government has set the rate of benefits at an amount that it believes to be reasonable, and to
ensure that no individual suffers destitution. This is compatible with the Convention .
Destitution refers to persons who are suffering hardship derived from lack of food, clothing and
shelter. Does your department deem that destitution is not apparent in the uk, and getting
worse, day by day, as a result of the Welfare Reform Act?
How bad must it get before it becomes uncompatible with the European Convention?
I can confirm that the Department holds no recorded information to answer your questions.
It may help if I explain that the Freedom of Information Act requires public authorities to
provide copies of information they already hold in a recorded form, subject to certain
exemptions. However, it does not require the Department to provide opinions, explanations,
generate answers to questions, or create or obtain information it does not hold.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
The DWP, as ever hiding the truth and denying the reality of their crooked existence.
MY BENEFITS WERE STOPPED BECAUSE OF AN ATOS REPORT………………………………
I WAS SEEN TO SIT IN A CHAIR, GET UP UNAIDED, GO TO A COUCH, BE EXAMINED, AND BE OBSERVED TO STAND IN THE SAME PLACE, HOLDING ONTO MY WALKING STICK FOR THE WHOLE DURATION OF THE EXAMINATION ………………………….
IT TAKES SOME DOING!
MIND YOU, IT GAVE THE SHITHOUSE, (no names, ta – jv) A GOOD PAYOUT FOR MY DISABILITY DENIAL……………..
CLASSIFIED AS DISABLED FOR LIFE, FOURTEEN YEARS SINCE MY ACCIDENT AT WORK, RECEIVING INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT BENEFIT, ONLY TO BE TOLD BY ATOS HCP , (no names, ta – jv) , I COULD RETURN TO WORK IN THREE MONTHS TIME……………………………..
@GEOFF clearly Atos performs miracles ..
why do people spend years doing phd’s and getting medical doctorates when some corporate computer company can come along whip up some nasty pretend nurses and over ride the Doctors? Why spend years studying illness’s such as physical and mental when they do not really exist? It is quite obvious that no one suffers these illness’s according to atoser because everyone in the world can get on a bus, make a cut of tea, and watch a bit telly, and tie fuckit shoe laces up. No one has nought wrong with em! simple! we can all work you know. Even if we are in chronic pain and on some strange meds. It was all imagined, we are all o.k. Isn’t wonderful. Some one tell the people at the universities to stop studying for phd’s. There is no need. Illness and disability and mental health problems are all in the mind, can you not see that?
Medical assessments of benefit applicants at Atos Healthcare were designed to incorrectly assess claimants as being fit for work, one of the company’s former senior doctors has claimed.
Greg Wood, a GP who worked at the company as a senior adviser on mental health issues, said claimants were not assessed in an “even-handed way”, that evidence for claims was never put forward by the company for doctors to use, and that medical staff were told to change reports if they were too favourable to claimants.
The doctor claimed he resigned in disgust at what was going on, saying that many doctors he had spoken to shared his concerns. “I think the Department for Work and Pensions is the real culprit here. It’s the government training that makes Atos assessors do this.”
The work capability assessment is used for the government’s employment and support allowance, a benefit paid to those too sick to work. Wood said that the assessors were trained in such a way that they expected claimants to score too few points to qualify for ESA, and to award points “begrudgingly”.
The attitude drilled into assessors “leans towards finding reasons not to award points”, he claimed. The result was a bias against the disabled, he said.
“I think the Department for Work and Pensions is the real culprit here. It’s the government training that makes Atos assessors do this.”
Well if you let a fraudulent company have a hand in designing the WCA so that they benefit from ” cash cows ” being given to them ie claimants chucked onto WPP
Then let Atos carry out the training of assessors . then add in the DWP fixation of saving tax payers money and then DWP infringing privacy by breifing the media with stories of claimants getting free mansions inciting hatred against claimants
The whole thing is obviously going to lead to a rising tide of deaths ..
“How is mental health assessed?
Our health care professionals (HCPs) conduct assessments for all conditions, including mental health. We also have Mental Function Champions who provide additional expertise in mental health, cognitive and learning disabilities. They can advise the healthcare professional on any aspect of the effects of mental health conditions.
Our health care professional will ask you questions about how you are affected by your mental health conditions. Based on this discussion, and all available evidence, our HCPs will provide their advice to the DWP. This advice is based on the DWP criteria and covers your capacity to cope with change, your understanding and focus, and social interaction.”
MENTAL FUNCTION CHAMPIONS ??
Atos Healthcare Disability Assessment FAQ
“This advice is based on the DWP criteria”
What Criteria would that be I wonder
IN 18 DAYS, THE TIME IT TAKES TO GET A CERTIFICATE, THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL IS AWARE OF EVERY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITION KNOWN TO MAN………………………
A GENIUS ON PAPER, A MURDERER IN REALITY!
Do Atos mental function champions really make WCAs “better”?
In anticipation of tomorrow’s debate on mental health in parliament, we’re publishing this story about Atos work capability assessment mental function champions (MFCs). We’re hoping that questions that our group has put forward to MPs about Atos MFCs will be asked in the debate.
Update Thursday 16 May: Kevan Jones raised the issue of Atos mental function champions, the difficulty our group has had finding any information about any “real” impact of the role on WCAs for people with mental health problems and the lack of reporting information in parliament today at the mental health debate. It really is appalling that this “initiative” is thought to be good enough for people with mental health problems, particularly as neither the DWP nor Atos will show anyone any evidence of it producing results. You can read Kevan Jones’ comments at the end of this article.
In 2011, Atos introduced Mental Function Champions into the ESA work capability process to “improve” assessments for people with mental health problems. A group of us have spent six months trying to find out exactly how this MFC role works, if MFCs have “improved” work capability assessments for people with mental health problems and if anyone at Atos or the DWP can prove that the role has had any impact for people who must go through WCAs.
We’ve had very little luck. We did manage to get a meeting with Atos, someone who said he was an MFC and the DWP on the topic, but that was not particularly satisfactory, as you’ll see:
For months now, mental health service users and campaigners from the voluntary sector consortium group Mental Health Northeast (MHNE), Newcastle user-led mental health support group Launchpad and False Economy have been trying find out more about the work done by Atos Mental Function Champions.
Mental Function Champions are the mental health support and advice “experts” that Atos supposedly introduced into the ESA work capability assessment process in 2011 (Malcolm Harrington recommended the creation of this “role” in his early WCA reviews). The aim of this exercise was, according to Atos, to “spread best practice and provide advice and coaching to healthcare professionals at any stage in a case” where an ESA claimant had a mental health illness, learning difficulty or cognitive impairment.
Last year in November, Mark Hoban told parliament that he’d introduced an MFC into every assessment centre in the country.
Actually, he hadn’t. When our group chased that up, the DWP told us that there were 60 MFCs across the country and that they largely worked a phone advice line – to “provide advice and support to Atos assessors, spreading best practice, and building links with appropriate stakeholders in their area,” whatever that meant. We decided that we wanted to know more.
And with good reason. MHNE and Launchpad were extremely surprised to hear that best practice was being spread through the WCA process for people with mental health problems. As far as they were concerned, the opposite was true and WCAs were having an extremely detrimental effect on people with mental health problems (and they’re far from the only ones who think that, to say the least):
http://www.katebelgrave.com/2013/02/why-cant-we-find-out-more-about-atos-mental-function-champions/
WHY CANT WE FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ATOS MENTAL FUNCTION CHAMPIONS ?
Deffo worth a read folks !!!!
To confirm, there is provision to refer customers with a neurological condition to an appropriately
neurologically trained Healthcare Professional (HCP). Additionally, when a neurological
condition is entered onto the Logic Integrated Medical Assessment (LiMA) system, the system
user will receive a prompt for the “support group” criteria. The role of the HCP is to offer advice
to the DWP Decision Maker on the severity of the neurological condition and recommend
whether the Support Group is appropriate, this is not a decision, it is a recommendation.
they would have to be ‘experts’ as the assessors themselves have a screw loose. they still call it a medical! it’s not! they (including non doctors) answer a computer questionnaire.
orma Roberts says:
January 18, 2013 at 6:43 pm
What are the recognised qualifications of the “mental health champions” please?
Reply
Atos Healthcare says:
February 13, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for your question. The Mental Function Champions are all approved disability analysts who have postgraduate experience of working in a clinical mental health setting and an ongoing interest in mental health issues.
Comment thread on Atos website
Yes but apart from the crap about the number of them plus the fact that the MFC members are NOT there during assessment
But in fact on the end of a phone line apparently
Who the fuck are they eg names and who they work for ??
The number of successful appeals against decisions made to throw people off benefits remains sky high.
Its not surprising.diagnosing people doesn’t appear to be just verbal,job centre advisors are are noting on the system if some is “depressed”. this window popped up during during an interview and every little detail is recorded.
unqualified jobcentre plus staff are drawing their own conclusions to peoples conditions’. experience shows the main aim is just to get rid of disabled people through intimidation and bullying.some jobcentre staff are so bullish they think they can do what they like,say what they like and get way with it.
post work programme support is a complete sham,brushed off while on it and attempts to remove people from the benifits system after by abusing them.
If those appealing do not get their benefits backdated then atos and dwp will have achieved their objective to rob the poor yet again.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/120987/response/315410/attach/html/3/3518%202626%20J%20Slater%20Response.pdf.html
NOW THIS LOOKS INTERESTING
FOI Request to DWP on HCP neurologist
role and qualifications with regard to Atos
WCA tests …
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request that was received by the Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP) Adelphi on 3 July 2012 and forwarded on 3 July for response by
DWP Medical Services Contracts Correspondence Team (MSCCT) Freedom of Information
Officer.
In your email you asked to be provided with information answering the following questions:-
The DWP document: Training & Development Neurological Condition List by Practitioner Type
MED-NEURODA~001 Version: 3 Final 14th February 2012 states:
“This guidance has been produced to assist Health Care Professionals who undertake WCA
assessments and filework. Within WCA assessments there is a range of cases suitable for
examination by Registered Nurses (RNs), before and after they have had neurology training.
Section one provides guidance on cases that are not suitable for RNs before they have had
further neurology training. Section two provided guidance as to which cases neurology trained
RNs and Physiotherapists can see and cases which must only be seen by Registered Medical
Practitioners.”
However, it does not explain what the ‘neurological training’ consists of.
Please provide me with documents or other material that provides:
1. A description of the training undertaken that allow RNs to assess neurological cases
specified in said document.
2. The equivalent academic level of the training, i.e. is it GCSE, ‘A’ Level, Undergraduate,
Postgraduate Diploma Masters, Doctoral or Post Doctoral?
3. What is the length of the training? (including classroom and on the job)
4. Who provides the training courses? (i.e. is it an academic institution, a private
company, the NHS etc)
5. Who assesses and certifies the RNs as having passed the training?
6. Who or what medical organisation has validated and audits the training courses?
7. What qualifications do the trainers hold?
8. Who has certified that this training is adequate to allow RNs to complete WCA for those
people with the conditions defined in the document?
Mental Health Conditions versus Neurological Conditions
9. Given that current medical evidence suggests that some Mental Health conditions are
linked to problems with Brain Chemistry and that some Neurological Conditions are
also linked to problems with Brain Chemistry why are Mental Health and Neurological
Conditions treated differently under the WCA?
10. How took the decision to treat them differently?
11. What is the supporting medical evidence upon which this decision was taken?
12. Given that HCP are allowed to carry out WCA for those with Mental Health illnesses
why it is that specialist training is required for HCP to deal patients with Neurological
conditions but not for those with Mental Health conditions?
13. Given that only Doctors are allowed to assess patients with some Neurological
conditions why is this not the case with some Mental Health conditions?
In reply to Q 1, please find attached the Atos Healthcare Training guides for neurological
cases.
Please note this guidance has been produced to assist Healthcare Professionals (HCP) who
undertake Work Capability Assessments (WCA) and the scrutiny filework of completed Limited
Capability for Work Questionnaires. Within WCA assessments there are a range of cases
suitable for examination by Registered Nurses (RNs), before and after they have had
neurology training.
Section one provides guidance on cases that are not suitable for RNs before they have had
further neurology training. Section two provides guidance as to which cases neurology trained
RNs and Physiotherapists can see and cases which must only be seen by Registered Medical
Practitioners (Doctors).
These documents have been produced as part of a programme for approved HCPs to carry
out medical assessments. All HCPs undertaking these medical assessments must be
registered medical or nursing practitioners who in addition, have undergone training in
disability assessment medicine and more specific training. The training includes theory training
in a classroom setting, supervised practical training, and a demonstration of understanding as
assessed by quality audit. These documents must be read with the understanding that, as
experienced medical or nursing practitioners, the HCPs will have detailed knowledge of the
principles and practice of diagnostic techniques and therefore such information is not
contained in these documents. In addition, these are not stand-alone documents, and form
only a part of the training and written documentation that a HCP receives. As disability
assessment is a practical occupation, much of the guidance also involves verbal information
and coaching. Thus, although the documents may be of interest to non-medical readers, some
of the information may not be readily understood without background medical knowledge and
an awareness of the other training and guidance given to HCPs.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it
for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any
other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except
photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of
news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the
permission of the copyright holder.
Most documents produced by the DWP and/or Atos Healthcare will be protected by Crown
Copyright. Most Crown copyright information can be re-used under the Open Government
Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/). For information
out the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see The National
Archives website -http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/uk-gov-
licensing-framework.htm .
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining
permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at www.ipo.gov.uk.
In response to Q 2, from 2012 Atos Healthcare have linked with the University of Derby
through the University of Derby Corporate to officially accredit a key training course for nurses.
This is in line with the nursing professions requirement from 2012 that all nurses will be
required to obtain a degree in order to successfully qualify in nursing. Further information can
be found through the attached link http://www.atoshealthcare.com/news/news_accreditation
In answer to Q 3 the Atos Healthcare neurological training forms part of the overall HCP
training. Doctors are approved to assess neurological conditions, as with all other conditions,
at the end of their 7 day new entrant training course. After completion of the training, they are
subject to audit requirements to ensure quality.
Physiotherapists are approved to assess specific neurological conditions at the end of their 21
day new entrant training course. After completion of the training, they are subject to audit
requirements to ensure quality.
Nurses complete an 18 day new entrant training course. They subsequently undergo further
training in order to assess specific neurological conditions. This training includes: Pre-course
reading, Multiple Choice Questions assess their knowledge and face to face training for a day
and a half and 2 further competency tests.
After completion of the training, nurses are subject to audit requirements to ensure quality
standards are achieved.
In reply to Qs 4 & 5, Atos Healthcare provide the training, and submit this information to the
DWP Chief Medical Adviser (CMA) who provides the approval which allows Nurses to conduct
WCAs.
Atos Healthcare training for HCPs:
Initial Training: varies in detail according to which benefit is involved. However all such
training follows a similar basic pattern, as follows;
Theoretical Training: Theoretical training commences with a trainer led theory based course
usually delivered to a group of HCPs in a classroom setting. HCPs who are new to the work of
Atos Healthcare will receive instruction in such areas as disability analysis, customer’s rights,
equal opportunities and professional standards. Detailed technical information relevant to the
benefit concerned is provided. All Atos Healthcare trainers have undergone specific training to
prepare them for the role, including practical sessions to enhance their understanding of how
adults learn.
Practical Training: Practical Training is the work undertaken by the new recruits that is
produced in a controlled environment. For examination centre based assessments the HCP is
supervised and appraised by an experienced Medical Adviser as they complete their
introductory cases. In the domiciliary visit based benefits the initial cases are monitored
immediately on return to allow feedback to be given without delay.
Demonstration of understanding assessed by multiple choice examination: for Incapacity
Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance the HCP is
required to attain a pass mark in a multiple choice questionnaire before they are allowed to
proceed to the practical training. The questionnaire includes questions on the whole range of
topics covered in the training course.
Demonstration of understanding by audit: In all benefits the initial cases produced by the HCP
are target monitored by an experienced medical adviser and the training cannot be considered
as complete until they have demonstrated that their work is acceptable. Whenever any
problems are identified appropriate feedback is provided. Further cases are monitored until
the work is shown to be satisfactory. If the situation is not rectified the HCP may be required
to repeat the entire training process. Continued lack of progress will result in the HCP being
informed by a medical manager they can be offered no further training and no further work.
Approval: All HCPs must be approved by the CMA to the DWP and separate approval is
required for each benefit area in which the HCP is involved. Approval is dependent on
successful completion of all stages of their training process and ongoing demonstration that
the work being carried out meets a satisfactory standard.
Written Guidelines: As part of the HCPs training and ongoing support they are issued with
guidelines pertaining to the benefit involved. These guidance notes provide specific technical
advice about the benefit concerned, outline best practise and contain general advice about
disability analysis and service to the people with disabilities.
All HCPs are monitored to ensure that their work meets the required quality standards. If a
problem is identified, the HCP may be required to undertake tailored training, which may
involve training in mental health issues if required.
In answer to Qs 6 & 8 the training material is quality assured by the DWP Chief Medical
Adviser, who has certified that this training is adequate to allow RNs to complete WCAs.
In response to Q 7 all Atos Healthcare HCP trainers are fully qualified HCPs with a minimum of
3 years post-registration experience. They are individually approved by the DWP CMA, on
behalf of the Secretary of State, for each Benefit area they work on. All HCP trainers receive
further training in Facilitation Skills, including practical sessions to enhance their understanding
of how adults learn and attend Train-The-Trainer events specifically designed for each Benefit
the Trainer is to deliver the training in. All the training materials used by Atos are approved by
DWP.
In reply to Qs 9, 10 & 11, information relating to the rationale for the WCA and the physical /
mental, intellectual and cognitive activities can be found at:
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare%2Dreform/employment%2Dand%2Dsupport/
In response to Q 12, Nurses receive training in the assessment of claimants with mental health
conditions as part of their induction training.
In answer to Q 13, Nurses do not receive training in the assessment of claimants with
conditions that result in clinical signs relating to the central nervous system.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
University of Derby Corporate
University of Derby Corporate (UDC) is the University’s corporate training and development division; working with a wide variety of organisations to deliver work based learning programmes and accredited qualifications. UDC can address the business needs of companies of all sizes, through the development of bespoke training courses. For more information on their work visit http://www.derby.ac.uk/corporate
In that FOI response from DWP about the role of HCP and RN neurological skills it mentions Atos work with Derby University Corporate ( odd name for a place where HCP are meant to be )
Anyway this is about the university
Not sure of i can see nurses in this
It seems to be business friendly though
This company is being paid to lower the number of disabled claiming benefit by hook or by crook .
mike
yep, exactly in a nutshell, no matter how many words are posted, your words sum it up, perfectly…..
Don’t forget!
CH4. 20:30 Benefits St. 21:00 Benefits St Debate.
Rent-a-gob is on the other side on the immigration row.
“IF THE CONTENTS OF THE HIDDEN CONTRACT BETWEEN THE DWP AND ATOS WERE LAID OPEN, YOU WOULD WITNESS THE BIGGEST LAWSUIT EVER SEEN ON OUR SHORES”………………………………….
TARGETS WERE AGREED THAT ENABLED THE FRENCH MULTINATIONAL TO STEAL BONAFIDE BENEFITS FROM THE DISABLED BY THE USE OF NON PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL EXAMINERS.
THE RELUCTANCE OF THE DWP TO RELEASE MORTALITY RATES OF VICTIMS OF WELFARE REFORMS THAT WERE GIVEN ROYAL ASSENT BY THE QUEEN, BEAR WITNESS TO THIS FACT.
…………..LIKE THE CHILCOTT INQUIRY INTO THE BASIS OF ENTERING AN ILLEGAL WAR, THE FACTS WILL BE CAREFULLY HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY.
THIS NATION IS PROBABLY THE MOST CORRUPT IN THE WORLD………………………..
MEANWHILE THE HUMAN RIGHTS PEOPLE SIT BACK AND SAY NOTHING.
“YOU CAN KILL AS MANY AS YOU LIKE BUT THE CEMETERIES BEAR THE FRUITS OF YOUR HEINOUS ACTS AGAINST THE MOST VULNERABLE”
YOUR DAY OF RECKONING IS GETTING CLOSER………………….
Reblogged this on The Heckler.
Hi can someone help me as I have no idea where to go with this…
I was meant to be assessed by A toss this morning. They made me wait in their waiting room for OVER AN HOUR with no proper resting place and the receptionist and staff were so fucking rude. It’s twice now that they’ve decided to reschedule me for them running late… This is part of the reason I want to complain but the MAIN reason is that whilst I was in the waiting room I could actually overhear the staff assessors behind closed doors discussing my case to each other before I’d even been assessed and holding it firmly against me because I travelled to the assessment by BUS. Today has been absolutely traumatising and horrifying to say the least overhearing their little conversation I kept hearing the phrase “THERE IS NO WAY… if she travelled by bus”… It is so fucking hard to live with disabilities that everyone suspects you of lying and work-dodging. These times are lonely and alienating. I don’t even have any friends anymore and my family don’t support me. It feels like I’m not allowed to exist. Anyway where/who should I complain to about this? I don’t the company itself would care and nor would the D W*P
Keep all the details and times on paper whilst you still remember them. It will all count at your Appeal, and please use the CAB/Welfare services. It makes a lot of difference.
cinnamon
i take that the wca did not take place…google; travelling to WCA medical by, public transport, car or taxi….the test is functional abilities and limitation of functional abilities….write down all of your symptoms and their day today affects, give them a copy…keep all details and ask for the WCA to be recorded….your gp has signed one not fit for work….read up as much as you can about the WCA… http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/node/42
cinnamon teal
They kept me waiting for an hour too, with no resting space. I think its done on purpose. I was sieving when I read on the report later, that I had been observed on camera, with no problems remaining seated for one hour, without no discomfort. Shocking considering I was on strong painkillers and was there seated for an hour because if I did not attend they were stopping my esa. I had no choice. Just the sly invasion is sickening. You may get this so be prepared. They stoop low.
jasmine
i would not stay…one arrives 10mins before appointed time, check in, i ask is the appointment on time, they say no, i say 10mins after app time, i leave…
I went to my ATOS examination with cuts to my face, my arms, hands and knees.
i had fallen down the steps of a private bus on a day trip to york, landing badly in the street.
The ATOS NURSE, ********* asked how i had sustained the injuries……………
On my medical report it did not mention any injuries, just the fact that i was capable of getting on a bus…………
You are dealing with legalised thieves.
geoff
see UT judgements, they dismiss all that stuff as utter nonsense….
ps
can soak feet in bowl, have a shower, get dressed, read book, make tea, open sardines, chat to people….so what it has nothing to do with ones, functional limitations/abilities, which actually prevent one from sustaining work…
obd – plenty of openings for sardine-openers, esp. with those supplementary book-opening skills! You just need to search in all the right plaices! … Your perfect job IS out there … (you just haven’t met it yet).
Have you considered thought about using the new Universal Benefits Snatch (UBS) web for instance? It’s a great new tool & the government’s flagship for anything fishy. Everyone is talking about it … and it’s completely free! (I know!). Anyone can use it; available 24/7 & with (literally)1000s of jobs, what could possibly go wrong? No matter how ‘eclectic’ your skill-set … UBS helps with those pesky job searches, saving you time & (DWP) money.
PS. your local library now offer hints and tips for getting online! (They may even be tell you what DWP mean when they say ‘eclectic skill-set’). Why wait? IDS/UBS love a ‘can-do attitude’.
s n
yeah, they are a bunch of sprats, boring old trout’s, who carp on, with no fin to say, that create red herrings…
And if you’re lucky, there may be a local library still open!!
obd, we now have arrived at a perfect storm of doublespeak (it probably is time to swim upstream as fast as possible). For ages it was just a bit of relatively obvious :spin’ …. this morning there is DC flatly denying what the most recent archbish to speak out has spoken out against;
“It is simply not true” [that there are people being left destitute and starving.]. I listened to Vincent’s clear description of workers he has heard from and the tales they had related to him of said destitute and desparate people … use of food banks in extremis etc. etc. He said they (the workers) and presumably he (the arch bish) would never have imagined seeing such scenes in modern-day Cheltenham (!). Never mind about modern day northof-Watford.
This is all either imaginary or somehow a gross exaggeration though in World-of-waffle-and-flannel … not even that it is simply made up!!
The Arch bishop is a liar or a fool …. off with his head …
(bloody scaremongerers – they get everywhere – is nothing sacred?!)
s n
yes, all very fishy, do you think it is a battle for sole’s, a spinner or lure is used in fishing….the debait has turned sour perhaps a bit more batter and some tartar sauce is required, rubbing salt into the wounds and vinegar for healing them…..
Cinnamon Teal,
If you make a formal complaint (in writing), Atos will have no choice but to investigate. One of the CAB’s has produced a factsheet to help people frame their complaints to Atos, available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/97651322/Using-the-Atos-Complaints-Procedure. Also tells you where to send it. Please note that the complaints procedure is not about challenging actual decisions and is therefore not a substitute for the appeals process. It might also come in handy as evidence for a future appeal and, even if it turns out to be a case of ‘your word against theirs’, at least formal complaints give Atos extra work to do.
Reblogged this on UNEMPLOYED IN TYNE & WEAR.
Reblogged this on msamba.
OT
300 apply for jobs at ice cream parlour….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-26227295
If only the unemployed had some help and training to help them compete for jobs, like basic maths and shelf stacking, then the ice cream parlour could have taken on all 320 of them.
Help and training is not what the WPP are known for. They only exist to create money for themselves.
A proper work programme would not ask for or being bunged £250 per client per week in order to massage the unemployment figures or to dis-honestly claim large amounts of money each week.
My WPP is useless. Each time I have to go there I’m now scamming them with useless, old, out-of-date job applications that I made weeks ago, not current job applications I make at the library during the same week as WPP attendance.
By the time I hand in my client end-of-term report on my last day, the WPP staff will be clambering to resign from their cushy jobs. I will be telling them the truth about the WP and all the nasty things they tried to do against me – such as tamper with my perfectly-written CV (done with help from Learn Direct), but the un-trained WP goons deemed it sub-standard, tried three times to force me into zero-hour contracts, tried to get me to change my e-mail address and when that lame attempt back-fired they only tried to force me into creating a new e-mail address.
Come summer and there will be some nasty home truths written to them when i get my chance to comment…
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/17/atos-fit-for-work-tests-contract
ATOS may lose contract, scrap the WCA not give it to some other profiteer
SAME TICK BOX LIMA SOFTWARE, SAME EX BED PAN WASHERS WITH A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE FOR 18 DAYS TRAINING, DIFFERENT UNIFORM…………………..
I made a Freedom Of Information request as follows ‘Do the DWP keep national monthly totals in detail for DWP internal use regarding sanctions’ they answered ‘Yes’ yet when you ask for these details, that they collate and keep for DWP use, it would magically cost over £600 to obtain these. I am complaining to the Information Commissioner, as something very fishy indeed is going on here..
ATOS IS TO HEALTHCARE, WHAT JULIE ANDREWS IS TO DEEP THROAT?
AFTER 14 YEARS CONSIDERED DISABLED FOR LIFE, ATOS SAID I WOULD BE FIT FOR WORK 3 MONTHS AFTER THE EXAM………..
STRANGELY I FELT EXACTLY THE SAME WHEN THE DATE ARRIVED, I CONTINUED TO PISS MYSELF AND FALL OVER AND WAS INCAPABLE OF FASTENING BUTTONS OR PUTTING MY SOCKS ON, BATHING OR WIPING MY ARSE PROPERLY………………
WHY DO MILLIONS OF DISABLED PEOPLE TRAVEL TO LOURDES IN HOPE OF A MIRACLE WHEN THE ANSWER IS ON OUR DOORSTEP?
the papers on news24..with
lord baron digby
“the unemployed should be
starved” jones..fat smug ex
head of the cbi could feed a
a third world village as a spit
roast or even a few foodbanks
over here..eat the rich.
Atos may lose fit-for-work tests contract as ministers line up rival firms
http://gu.com/p/3mzz6
ATOS MAY LOSE WCA CONTRACT. and get replaced by ” rivals “.
Yeah but if the test is wrong to begin with
I did hear that Atos owns patent on WCA
Test….so what it be replaced with ?
“DISABILITY DENIAL 2, FINAL EDITION”
http://tia-junior.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1
ATOS and the ESA saga !!
for the next contract – the current one is worth £115m a year – include G4S, Serco, A4E and Capita Group, who are all listed on the government’s existing “framework” group of preferred bidders for outsourced welfare work.
Marked “restricted”, the 80-page DWP efficiency review says: “The department is working with Her Majesty’s Treasury and Cabinet office colleagues to seek additional [health assessment] providers to offer further capacity in the short-term and for these providers to then take over the whole contract.”
It goes on to say that civil servants are “involved in ongoing discussions with Atos Healthcare regarding the quality of the service delivered”.
An Atos spokeswoman described the contract as “outdated”, saying that in its current form it wasn’t working for “claimants, for the DWP or for Atos Healthcare”.
She said: “The department has made it clear that it is considering bringing additional providers on board. We recognise that many people have strong feelings about work capability assessments. The constant flow of criticism inevitably has an impact on our staff who diligently endeavour to carry out assessments as laid out in DWP guidelines. We are committed to working with the department to help them meet their needs and the needs of claimants.”
The admission that the government is planning to oust Atos would appear to be a contravention of public competition and tendering rules – a quasi-judicial process in which government bodies cannot favour one company over another before contract bids are entered.
One expert in competition law at a London firm specialising in commissioning practices said public procurement required contracts to be awarded on a fair and non-discriminatory basis. The legal expert who did not want to be named, said: “In short, if you have decided up front that you’re going to exclude so-and-so, that’s likely to be unlawful.”
Last month the Atos boss Joe Hemming told a Commons committee that the company was proud of its work. “We have a real passion for delivering services to the citizen in a way that continues to satisfy the way the citizen wants to be served,” he said. The Labour MP Paul Flynn accused Hemming of suffering from a “reality problem”.
A DWP spokesperson said the department did not comment on leaked documents, but told the Guardian there was no breach of public procurement rules.
“In July we announced Atos had been instructed to enact a quality improvement plan to remedy the unacceptable reduction in quality identified in the written reports provided to the department,” the spokesperson said. “We also announced in the summer we will be bringing in additional provision to deliver work capability assessments with the aim of increasing delivery capacity and reducing waiting times.”
They added that a forthcoming “invitation to tender” would set out that “the quality of assessments and service delivery is central” to the system.
Ok so the usual suspects SERCO G4S and Crapita as i suggested let’s not forget Crapita are doing the PIP assessments and fucking that up too.
Then G4$ shit reputation
And SERCO who runs prisoner services
Since there is now a blame game going on with DWP ..I think since DWP has now claimed the poor quality of report assessments ( not enough disabilty denial ??? )
I think DWP is still accountable because if they thought ATOS reports were suspect then why oh why act on them and sanction and deny benefits to so many claimants with the inevitable death toll ?
They could have suspended the whole operation at once so why didnt they ?
Now we may see a protracted long drawn out legal battle between DWP and ATOS
Leaving the poor claimant stuck where ?
G4S are advertising for new security goons in some JCP’s. talk about scraping the barrel.
13
Sep 2013
Capita’s Duckworth clams up after comments on benefit claimants
By john pring
The disabled executive leading work on the new disability assessment for the out-sourcing giant Capita has refused to explain controversial comments he made about benefit claimants in a national newspaper.
Dr Stephen Duckworth is chief executive of Capita’s personal independence payment (PIP) division, which is delivering PIP assessments across central England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But this week – in an article headlined ‘If I can work, so can one million others’ – he told The Sunday Times that he believed more than one million disabled people were wrongly claiming disability benefits.
He told the newspaper that “at least a million, probably north of a million” of those “deemed to be disabled… have got there through system failure and the way society is organised”.
Although he has declined to clarify his comments, he appeared to be referring to those claiming employment and support allowance and old-style incapacity benefit.
He then told the newspaper that minor injuries had become “a very common avenue towards multiple benefit receipt”.
He added: “The problem could have happened at work as a result of lifting a box of photocopy paper… it gave you a bit of a limp and you’re shopping at the weekend and you get a no-win, no-fee solicitor, a claims farmer, coming up to you.
“You get, say, £6,000 in damages from your employers, that builds your impairment, then you’re off work for six months, then you drop from full pay to half pay, then statutory sick pay.
“Then you’re feeling the financial pinch so… I find I can get an enhanced income from employment support allowance… and I go and claim it.
“I do my work capability assessment, so I get signed off on to the ESA at £106… so I have got a bit to pay the loan sharks back [but] I am depressed and my partner has left me… and my life is falling apart.”
When contacted by Disability News Service (DNS) on Monday, the day after the article appeared, Capita said Duckworth would not be available to be interviewed for the rest of the week.
After DNS submitted a series of questions seeking to clarify his remarks, Capita eventually produced a lengthy written statement, without any quotes attributed to Duckworth and failing to answer key questions about his comments.
The statement claimed that his Sunday Times interview “very much reflected his own personal experience of disability and, as such, the barriers he has faced within society and indeed the workplace”.
The statement added: “Stephen’s position within Capita means he has an opportunity to contribute towards removing these barriers and he will continue to make this his commitment by listening to disabled people and their organisations and ensuring Capita’s PIP assessments reflect this.”
But the interview caused anger and bemusement among disabled activists.
Campaigner “Welsh Wallace” wrote in a blog: “Every person should be judged on their own individual merit and capability, not lumped into the same basket or blanketed under this vitriol that has become acceptable towards disabled people to justify the welfare cuts.
“Just because you have a disability yourself, it does not give you the right to judge others’ capability with pre-conceived stereotypes more likely to raise their head in the likes of the Daily Mail.”
One disabled activist, @AtosVictims1, described Duckworth’s comments on Twitter as “a complete joke”, while another, @latentexistence, called him Capitas’s “flagship supercrip”.
Rob McDowall, a disabled blogger and chair of the LGBT Network, suggested in a blog that Duckworth’s comments were “calculated to play into and perpetuate the government myths that disabled people are work shy and will avoid work at all costs”.
He said Duckworth should “spend less time generalising [on] disability and its associated hardships and spend more time exploring the creation of a fair, balanced and adequate system designed to empower disabled people, lift them out of the poverty caused by the extra expenses of living with a disability and support them to lead as full a life as they are able to”.
And DWP are thinking of adding WCA contract to Capita ? According to guardian ?
After its leader came out with such insulting remarks about disabled people ?
Are they taking the piss ?
Where will this leave claimaints ?
Atos legal battle with DWP..Crapita corruption G4$ the joke company
And Serco the multi service you name it we do it company …
Just been with GEOFF REYNOLDS to his tribunal in Scarborough.
They had stopped his DLA and he was fighting to have it reinstated.
Geoff put forward a powerful case but sadly the decision went against him.
Geoff is registered disabled for life and they refused him his lifeline, what kind of evil bastards are running our country?
He told the magistrate that he has a seventeen year old son at college, a partner who works a couple of afternoons at Marks and Spencer and is struggling to live on £32 per week.
Outlining that they were living on cup a soup, cream crackers and out of date, 8p mushy peas, the panel did not show any feeling whatsoever.
I was completely stunned at the verdict.
I have witnessed disability denial that i thought i would never see in this day and age.
What is happening is pure unadulterated evil, perpetrated at the most vulnerable.
Toddy.
toddy
sorry to hear such bad news, no justice no more…wish him well from me
http://www.yourworkprogramme.com/index.php/about-the-work-programme/volunteer-to-the-work-programme
VOLUNTEER FOR THE SERCO WORK PROGRAMME..
Yes I can see lots of claimants all rushing to get on that…..not..
and this company might run the WCA as well ? This is taking the piss surely ?
I have to say that is utter and complete bollocks. People rushing to volunteer for the Work Programme? All it does it tick boxes in order to claim vast amounts of money from the state in order to justify work programme provider’s existence.
* JCP – Did the WP claimant attend his weekly WPP session as agreed?
* WPP – yes. (Attendance box clicked allowing £250 to be claimed for client attendance that week)
http://www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=83b2c86d78b4f104&from=serp
DISABILITY ASSESSOR JOB CAPITA PIP ASSESSMENT
Blimey Crapita are recruiting like mad for these posts …so what with PIP and WCA that’s a lot of dosh for them
By the way I see Duckworth the head of Crapita Disability Assessment was head hunted from….ATOS Heslthcare.
Same meat different gravy ..
I bet nothing will be heard in the mainstream media about the demonstration unless it gets out of hand and leads to riots and property damage.
Reblogged this on Gangstalked and slandered.
Here’s another ‘UK’ recruitment website that has been seen on Universal Fake Match and of which originates from the USA..
Hostname: http://www.uk-localrecruitment.com
IP Address: 50.116.14.17
Host of this IP: li472-17.members.linode.com
Organization: Linode
ISP: Linode
City: Absecon
Country: United States
State: New Jersey
Postal Code: 08205
Timezone: America/New_York
Local Time: 18.02.2014 04:55:34
Checking up this job website, my Chrome extension ‘script safe’ flagged up this American website. Any clues as to its purposes?
businesscatalyst.com
* Bagged this gem of a fake job vacancy this morning whilst doing a quick local job search in my area. The catch is, you get paid cash in hand and you can choose your own hours each week. Sounds like an application to become a burglar or car thief to me…
P.E. Recruitment (Private Eye Service Ltd)
Catalogue Distributor
Job description
We are currently looking for catalogue distributors in your area! The role is entirely flexible, you can choose your own hours and you are paid in cash weekly. Avg weekly earnings up to £250 depending on hours worked.
No experience or start up costs needed as training and catalogues will be provided for free. Candidates must be over 18 and have minimum of 12 hours a week available.
Maybe the disabled wheelchair people can pull a little trailer full of catalogues behind them? Or if they work hard at it for a few years, build their arm muscles up to Schwarzenegger standards and buy an electric mobility scooter, and then earn untold wealth, and eventually buy out Amstrad?
**Who the fuck would want to work in the jobcentre?
G4S Secure Solutions (UK) Limited
SECURITY AREA RELIEF OFFICER
Job description
Permanent, 42 hours per week, Mon-Friday, 08.30-17.30. Report Writing, Transport Control, Inspection Rounds, Telephone Duties, Conflict Resolution, Using Alarm Systems, Dealing with People.
DRIVING LICENCE ESSENTIAL, OWN TRANSPORT ESSENTIAL. SIA Preferred. Covering JCP’s in the following areas – Wisbech, Kings Lynn Peterborough, Cambridge and Huntingdon. Rate of pay will vary depending on role covered – £7.80 and £8.34. Must have excellent communication skills as conflict resolution may be put into practice on a daily basis.. Please quote vacancy reference 16030 when calling G4S Recruitment on 0870 010 8376
“…Or if communication and cogitation skills are lacking, then you can always just grunt like Pigface.”
I went to our Atos demo as one of the organisers. About 10 of us turned up. We included mobility scooter users, blind people, people with sticks, people with mental health conditions, etc.
Then guess who turned up? It was Pigface, the G4S security guard from the jobcentre. Apparently he also checks the building each morning at Atos. After he’d gone I told people about him, but unfortunately they didn’t believe me. Even when I pointed out that, though his immediate bosses are G4S, and his job description is ‘security guard’, he’s been ‘doing the jobs of’ JCP staff – AND is responsible for hundreds of sanctions at our JCP, by initiating them himself!!!!!! I know, from months and years of observing him.
They didn’t believe me either when I told how he was racist and homophobic etc. at work and told racist jokes. And how he is always slagging off single mothers, fat people, ‘ugly’ people, and disabled people. To their face, in their presence, or behind their back. (I am the only one of the 10 who signs on JSA.)
One of us had had his Atos appointment and been turned down despite major injuries and brain surgery, and congenital disabilities, and he is now part-blind. He was told that he is ‘obviously’ independent because his partner attends university! (They didn’t care/notice that it’s part-time and in the same city they live in.) She got slagged off for ‘abandoning’ him. Also he was criticised for doing sport, though he attends but can no longer actively participate! If he did, he’d probably break his spine and be paralysed. And the government want disabled people doing sport, and everyone in general to do it.
* Off Topic
I made the mistake of watching a so-called Benefits debate on Chanel 4 last night, which made my blood boil. The whole premise of the debate/show was flawed, i.e. “looking at ways in which the government can cut the Benefits bill”. FFS get it through your heads, the Benefit Bill does NOT need cutting – it needs INCREASING! In fact it needs to be almost DOUBLED.
http://welfarenewsservice.com/level-uk-benefits-inadequate-says-council-europe/
And cutting State Benefits will have NO effect on the Economy!
“And cutting State Benefits will have NO effect on the Economy!”
It does effect the local economies, it closes down all the shops!
IN THE CASE OF DAVID JOHNSON VERSUS ATOS, THE JUDGE ASKED FOR A “REAL” MEDICAL REPORT ON THE CLAIMANTS CONDITION…..
THIS, IN ITSELF, SPEAKS VOLUMES ABOUT THE CREDIBILITY OF AN ATOS HCP’S REPORT.
IT ISN’T WORTH THE PAPER IT IS WRITTEN ON……………
MOST OF THE LINKS TO THE CASE HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY REMOVED FROM THE INTERNET, ESPECIALLY NEWSPAPER REPORTS .
THE DWP TRUTH ERASERS HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY!
THE AUTHENTICITY OF AN ATOS REPORT HAS NEVER REALLY BEEN CHALLENGED IN A HIGH COURT……………..
SOON IT WILL, AND THE FALLOUT WILL MAKE SPARKS FLY!
MINES AN ABSOLUTE BEAUTY……….
“SEEN TO SIT IN A CHAIR, GET UP UNAIDED. WALK TO A COUCH, BE EXAMINED AND BE OBSERVED TO STAND, HOLDING MY WALKING STICK, IN ONE PLACE FOR THE DURATION OF THE EXAMINATION”……….
TAKES SOME DOING………..
This is important. I hope as many as possible will take part in the demonstration. Let’s show the twats that people will stand together!
Pingback: Don’t Blame Us For The Suffering We Cause Say Atos, We’re Just Making Money | the void
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & THE SIEGE OF BRITAIN POLITICAL JOURNAL.
I would be more than happy to join you if I were well enough. All best wishes!
Atos recruitment ad….note this:
Our comprehensive package of benefits can include:
Private healthcare – to meet our commitment to your wellbeing, we offer private healthcare as a ‘peace of mind’ benefit
Uh -huh, the well being of their minions, never mind OUR well-being!!!
Where the hell are the human rights brigade in all this? We have been treated inhumanely and deserve to be heard. Yet those who are supposed to help us, do not. Perhaps I should become a terrorist and they would be fighting over themselves to help.
doesn’t help that the tabloids yesterday called Shami Chakrabarti a paedo!
This looks deliberate. I know her, and know she isn’t one.
BBC Newsnight made an attempt at a piece on sanctions last night if anyone’s interested. Starts about 12 mins in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03w7wb3
cameron has announced in the toriegraph that i quote ” the government are on a moral crusade to end benefits dependancy”..moral crusade WTF
That’s ripe considering they’ve never had any morals! And when is their dependency of benefits and cheating with their own altered laws, likely to end?
Who was it that quoted ‘Hypocrisy is Rife?’
If it wasn’t such a serious crooked lie, it would be laughable!
“KNOW YOUR PLACE 2″
YESTERDAY I ATTENDED A TRIBUNAL TO TRY AND GET MY DLA REINSTATED.
IT HAD BEEN STOPPED LAST JULY BECAUSE I DID NOT FILL IN A QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT MY DISABILITY AND HOW IT AFFECTS ME.
STRANGELY THEY NEEDED THE INFORMATION TO SEE IF I WAS GETTING THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF BENEFIT…………
I THOUGHT THIS RATHER STRANGE, AS I HAD NOT REPORTED A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE AND THE DWP’S OWN DOCTORS HAD AGREED MY DISABILITY WAS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.
THE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS TITLED, DLA80 OCTOBER 2011?
I HAVE BEEN EXISTING ON £32.23P SINCE THEY STOPPED MY DLA. THIS PAYMENT IS INDUSTRIAL INJURIES BENEFIT.
UPON ENTERING THE COURTROOM I WAS FACED BY THREE PEOPLE, A MAN IN THE CENTRE, WITH A WOMAN EITHER SIDE.
THE MAN INTRODUCED HIMSELF, TELLING ME HE WAS A SOLICITOR OR LAWYER.
HE THEN INTRODUCED THE WOMAN TO HIS LEFT, AND STATED THAT, “I THINK YOU HAVE MET BEFORE”.
HE THEN WENT ON TO TELL ME THAT THERE WAS ANOTHER LADY PRESENT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROOM AND THAT SHE WAS JUST AN ONLOOKER, A PERSON WHO WAS GOING TO JOIN THE TRIBUNAL PANEL AT A FUTURE DATE.
THE LADY FROM THE DWP MUST HAVE THEREFORE, SAT TO HIS RIGHT.
WHAT ASTONISHED ME FROM THE OUTSET, WAS HOW A FEMALE DOCTOR THAT HAD BEEN PRESENT AT ANOTHER ESA TRIBUNAL I HAD PREVIOUSLY ATTENDED, BE SITTING ON THE SAME BENCH????
IF, AS THE COURTS SYSTEM PROFESSES TO BE, TRULY INDEPENDENT…………
WHAT WAS SHE DOING HERE AT ALL?
………….AND WHO WAS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN ATTENDING AT THE SIDE?
I ASKED THE MAN, THE CHAIRMAN, WHY I WAS SENT A QUESTIONNAIRE RELATING TO DLA, AND DATED 2011, WHEN I HAD BEEN INFORMED ON 3RD MARCH LAST YEAR THAT PIP WOULD BE INTRODUCED ON THE 8TH APRIL LAST YEAR, TO SUPERSEDE DLA PAYMENTS………..
IN FURTHER CONVERSATION I MADE IT PLAINLY CLEAR THAT I HAD BEEN INFORMED ON THREE OCCASIONS BY DWP, THAT THE STOPPAGE OF MY DLA COULD NOT BE APPEALED.
AFTER A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST I WAS TOLD THAT IT COULD BE APPEALED, AND SHOWED HIM THE REQUEST TO PROVE IT…..
QUOTING STATEMENTS FROM PIP LEGISLATION I TOLD HIM THAT ACCORDING TO WHAT THE DWP TELL US, PIP REPLACED DLA AND ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS, WHETHER FOR LIFE OR SHORT PERIODS HAD COME TO AN END.
HE EXPLAINED THAT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE, THAT ANY AWARD UNDER EXISTING DLA, STILL STOOD!
EXPLAINING THAT I WAS STRUGGLING TO LIVE, THE AMOUNT I RECEIVED WAS BELOW THE MINIMUM THE DWP STIPULATED, NONE OF THE BENCH BATTED AN EYELID.
I EXPLAINED THAT I WAS SURVIVING ON CREAM CRACKERS, CUP A SOUP AND OUT OF DATE, 8P MUSHY PEAS………
STILL NO REACTION……
MENTIONING I HAD A SON OF SEVENTEEN AND A PARTNER WHO WORKED AT M&S FOR A FEW AFTERNOONS, GOT NOWHERE FAST.
THE BENCH ASKED ME TO LEAVE AND ON DELIBERATION SAID I HAD LOST MY CASE.
I TOLD HIM TO STICK IT UP HIS ARSE!
…………WHAT I FIND MILDLY AMUSING IS THAT A LADY HAD PUT FORWARD A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST, ASKING THE DWP IF PIP COULD BE SANCTIONED.
THE DWP HAD SENT BACK A MESSAGE STATING PIP COULD NOT BE SANCTIONED.
ON THE SAME DOCUMENT THEY ALSO LISTED OTHER BENEFITS WHICH COULD NOT BE SANCTIONED, AMONG THEM DLA………..
“sanctionable benefit” means (subject to subsection (2) and to any regulations under section
10(1)) any disqualifying benefit other than–
(a) joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance;
(b) any retirement pension;
(c) graduated retirement benefit;
(ca) personal independence payment;
(d) disability living allowance;
(e) attendance allowance;
(f) child benefit;
(fa) child tax credit; (fb) working tax credit;
(g) guardian’s allowance;
(h) a payment out of the social fund in accordance with Part 8 of the Social Security
Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;
(i) a payment under Part 10 of that Act (Christmas bonuses).
If you have any queries about this letter please contact us quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
I probably don’t need to tell you Geoff, but you must get some legal representation for this. Otherwise they do as they will, never answering to anyone for their blatant crimes, and ignoring all human rights. Hit them where it hurts most, and publicise all you can.
“THE DWP WOULD NEVER TELL BLATANT LIES, SURELY?
Dear Mr Reynolds
Freedom of Information Act – Request for Information
Our Reference: FOI IR 0306
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) review request which was received on 28
March 2013. In that request, you asked for a review of your FOI reference 5116.
You asked:
I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions’s handling of
my FOI request ‘U n u m corporations failure to record a conflict of interest.’.
Its quite obvious that there is a conflict of interest, hence your reluctance to answer.
Please be assured that your request has been given our full consideration and that all aspects of
your review were taken fully into account.
The review was conducted by an independent official of the Department, of the relevant grade
and authority to carry out such requests. The case has been examined afresh, and guidance has
been sought from domain experts to ensure all factors were taken fully into account.
After consideration the internal review has confirmed that DWP does not hold any information on
the Corporation identified above, as they are not connected to the DWP Medical Services
Contract.
You might find it helpful if I explain that Freedom of Information (FoI) Act is about the supply of
recorded information held by the Department rather than explaining or confirming whether your
assumptions are correct or not.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
DWP Business Management Team
Health & Disability Assessments (Operations)
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
………and yet;
13. UnumProvident is actively engaged with the Government, policy-makers and large employers to share best practice and to see where our systems and approaches might be applied more widely. We are currently working with the Department of Work and Pensions on this, and have had discussions with officials in HM Treasury and the Prime Minister’s office. We have met with officials to help better understand the nature of the IB casebook, and to discuss how our commercial experience and expertise might be more widely applied. In addition, we will shortly be supporting the National Employment Panel in its work on the New Deal for Disabled People through a secondment of one of our senior managers.
“HOW MANY TIMES HAVE MEMBERS OF PUBLIC BEEN TOLD BY THE DWP THAT THEY CANNOT APPEAL A DECISION?”
“HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DENIED THE RIGHT TO AN APPEAL?”
“HOW MUCH MONEY HAVE THE DWP MADE BY DENIAL OF A CLAIMANT’S RIGHT TO AN APPEAL?”
………and yet;
YOU STATE, “HOWEVER, THE REGULATIONS WOULD APPEAR.”
THIS IS NOT DEFINITIVE. CATEGORICALLY STATE THE CASE ONE WAY OR THE
OTHER PLEASE.
The Department cannot provide a definitive reply to your question. As stated in the previous
reply, the decision on whether or not to accept an appeal is for the Tribunal judge to make.
I should also like to add that you have now been informed on numerous occasions that the
Freedom of Information Act is about the supply of recorded information held only, and is not
about entering into a debate. As you have once again submitted a request which is attempting
to engage in debate and is not for recorded information held by the Department, I find this
request to be invalid and vexatious in nature. In view of this the Department is under no
obligation to answer it, and will not enter into further debates or respond to further FOI
Requests on this matter.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central FoI Team
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
everything can be appealed……………………………
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Why aren’t the press and the TV jumping onto this? Years ago Granada and World In Action would have been onto these bastards like dogs with a bone! Roger Cook would have had a go at them too. Panorama does tippy-toed, half arsed stuff: Too sanitized (pure auntie beeb!) and nowhere near hard hitting enough. The likes of the vile Mail and Express papers will do nothing (except maybe praise these scumbags for helping to wipe out Britain’s ‘scrounging classes’!), and the tabloids care more about celebrity tosspots and Wayne Rooney’s hookers than they do the British people. The saying goes ‘Control the media, you control the world’…. The nation’s press should be ashamed! They waste their time hacking the phones of Hugh Grant etc. When they should be hacking these bastards and helping to bring them down!
History will judge them all… Not just the vermin who cause all this suffering. But also those who turned a blind eye: those who could (and should) have done something, but didn’t…
If you think Universal Jobmatch is safe, this may make you change your mind
** Firstly, I went to Google Diagnostics using my Chrome browser app ‘Scriptsafe’,..
https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=direct.gov.uk
** From this first diagnostic page I then linked to these following two sub-pages connected to direct.gov.uk…
https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=AS:3549
https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=AS:15395
** The other link discovered on Universal Jobmatch, again using the Chrome extension ‘Scriptsafe’…
https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=businesslink.gov.uk
** From here, I found further host network links connected with this gov.uk domain…
https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=AS:54113
Atos are liars. In the case of my friend, they have said he is sighted, though he is registered blind. And they told a blatant lie: they said he could do things (on their list of silly tasks) with his index finger.
1) They had not asked him verbally.
2) They had not physically tested him.
3) They, who are sighted, could easily see point 4.
4) He has no index finger.
They also put he had no congenital disabilities, though he (by law) gets payouts to the people born with that deformity because of drugs given to their mothers by doctors. So it’s PROOF of a medical condition, the fact he receives such payments!
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It’s simply a question of saving government money and they are using any method to do this.
Mind you they didn’t seem to care too much about their own expense accounts! That’s gone strangely quiet…
I read one doctor state with these tests that a monkey could be passed fit for work and even an automaton.
Iain Duncan Smith has been over to Auschwitz and Treblinka to study methods of controlling unwanted and expensive “useless eaters”.
Government strategy is: devise methods then a formula for anti benefit propaganda.
This is based largely on an American model.
Follow it up with the BBC, ITV, Murdock press and Daily Mail pumping anti benefits propaganda and fill the dim minded dummy proletariat minds full of hate but at the same time they don’t see they too could be next.
All this guff about the Paralympics and so on, it’s all part of the propaganda package -don’t be fooled.
They haven’t gone to the extent of building new extermination camps but one gets the feeling that they would love to, but then the buildings are expensive and why if ATOS can achieve the same aims be simply going through a charade of a medical exam.
Anyway with ATOS at the helm who needs to? Many ill and disabled are becoming more ill through the stress lack of money and help and dying earlier, some even going the suicide route.
IDS will soon pass a bill for voluntary euthanasia to be allowed. Rejoice, Rejoice, more savings!
I receive DWP payments because of long-term physical disability which makes it hard for me to walk for any distance and even standing around doing something as simple as the washing up is agony, with a pressure which quickly sets in, in my back and which quickly cripples me. But my main problem is a cocktail of mental health problems from parental abuse, most of which was at the ends of a psychotic parent. The outcome is that I am now PTSD and have very long term (thirty years plus) of chronic depressive disorder meaning that I am seldom happy, I seldom sleep and am terrified of leaving my flat. Yet those BASTARDS at ATOS decided that I was fit for work – and the last ATOS ”assessment” (torture session) I attended I turned up promptly.
Yet I had to wait SIX ****ING HOURS because their assessors had not turned up (this was at the Southampton, Hampshire ATOS center). I did everything that asked of me, but frankly I was treated in the same way that we have seen concentration camp victims treated with the ****er who examined me doing everything except asking me to open my mouth to look at my teeth. It took them FIVE MONTHS to send me the results of that examination, and of course I was suitable for work. I launched an appeal which took six weeks to go through. I was at the time put in the “support group” but two weeks after receiving that gracious exclusion I was sent a letter by the DWP telling me that I was in the work related group and had to attend a work orientation interview.
I immediately contacted my local DSS and explained what was going on, showed them my support group form and they changed the record to reflect this – or so I thought. That year, I received a further THREE brown envelopes (the sight of them makes me mentally ill and immediately invokes in me a stress/fear response) all of which demanded to know why I had not turned up for work related interviews. I grew so tired of this shit that I stopped going to the local DSS on the bus and began phoning them, which was a game in itself as they expected me to prove my allegations rather than keep accurate records. I am firmly of the opinion that the DSS/DWP are INCOMPETANT.
A year went by and more and eventually another ATOS form arrived at my flat. I filled it in, I sent it back and received a letter back from ATOS demanding that I attend a ‘examination’ in Southampton. I am so ****ed off by these ****s that I actually wrote on my last form to them that I never wanted to see ATOS ever again and flatly refused to attend any interview and they were welcome to sue me or drag me into court, because I was ready to slit my wrists right there and then to make the strongest possible POLITICAL STATEMENT it is possible to make, with emphasis on possibly making the news services just to shine a light on these shits and being sectioned be damned because the indifference and cold-bloodedness of ATOS had already killed me long ago.
ATOS wrote back informing me that the only way I could get out of an ‘examination’ was by contacting my doctor and having her send them a letter discussing my condition(s), and when I contacted my doctor to do this, she was more than happy to help. ATOS apparently received the doctor’s note, accepted it but did I get any notification that I was no longer required for the medical – or any communication at all? NO. It is now five months later and I am still in receipt the benefits I deserve but nobody, and I mean the DWP, ATOS, the DSS has bothered to contact me to put in writing that I am clear to receive those benefits until ATOS sends me another DEATH SENTENCE notification.
The sooner we are done with ATOS the better it will be for everyone concerned. I swear, if you read or see on the news that a forty-something male committed suicide rather than undergo a ATOS ‘examination’ in Hampshire, it will no doubt me be and GLADLY I’ll lay down my life because I am finished with being treated like a number – treated as if I am something less than human – with rights and feelings and all I ask is to be left alone to live with the nightmare that I wake to daily when I can sleep at all.