A clear cut case for ATOS and their Old Etonian masters.
Utterly disgusting, as per usual with ATOS 
However, I don’t think we should forget that ATOS has been working for the DWP since 1998 (when Labour were in power). No one person or party is to blame. They all are.
Karen x
Not only has the Bullion bovver Boys wasted 40m on rail franchise their outlook at caring for its residents is abysmal.
Does anyone know how many ill people are now been told to find a job?
Mind you for the first time in my life I’m seriously thinking of not voting. Labour are better than this lot but Millerbands ‘One Nation’ makes me think we have been here before with ‘Were all in this together.’
I know I should not but I’m thinking of playing there game and I couldn’t care ATOS.
George
Watching the video made me weep.
This lady’s mum is a hero, like many many carers she gives her time and love to support someone with mental health problems. The very idea that someone from ATOS could suggest that the young woman would be capable of finding work is beyond belief. It’s not just the physically disabled who are getting hammered by Atos!
I accept that the old IB system was too lax and that a more rigorous approach was needed but this is not rigorous its ridiculous.
Jane
Hi Whammel,
I followed this link with outrage, the whole system stinks and quite frankly I think ATOS just take the Mickey Bliss. I’m not going to make any more comments because I might fall off my soap box.
Suex
it makes me sick to my heart.
What goes around, comes around.
Unbelievable, I am lost for words.
Oh what a bloody outrage!
Thanks for posting Whammel.
Pat x
These people are either very stupid or very unkind. I can’t decide which yet! Teresa xx
This shameful tale just made the BBC London News, at about 18.40. If anything, the decision looks even more unfathomable.
The report on BBC London News mentioned that the girl concerned won her case on appeal, something which is not made clear in the Guardian article.
Skipping past the fact that she should never have been put in the position of needing to appeal in the first place, her case will be reviewed again in two years, by which time no doubt she can expect to be cured.
Apart from the human cost, don’t you think this is a waste of money and resources?
The appeals process is an awful, unbelievably stressful process. I can only assume, duncanp, that you have no experience of it because, if you did, you would not consider this a “win” at all.
Put your political preferences aside and look at this objectively. As whammel says, just how much money is being wasted on unnecessary applications, assessments and appeals? Look at the government’s own statistics about the level of fraudulent claims versus the desired cut to the budget. Then read the inside info on the WCA (I’m not talking about rhetoric here; I mean government and/or ATOS issued documents). Then, for good measure, consider the level of fraudulent JSA claims. The whole thing is utterly unjustifiable.
Btw, I have no personal axe to grind here. I don’t support any political party. I have never applied for ESA because I get a private pension. So I am looking at this situation in just about the most objective way there is. And it stinks.
Well said Karen!
Pat x
I have said in previous posts that I think the fact that appeals process is cumbersome and complex, and the fact that about 40% of appeals are successful indicates that the system needs reform, not only on the grounds of cost but to relieve the undoubted stress it causes for claimants.
So I agree with what everyone else here is saying, and I am sorry if I didn’t make this clear.
The initial Work Capability Assessments should be conducted using the same criteria as those used to judge the appeals, with the same degree of strictness, with the aim of reducing the number of successful appeals. (ie Get it right first time)
Furthermore, in the event of a successful appeal, ATOS should be fined a sum of money equivalent to (say) 120% of the amount they received for conducting the initial WCA. This would make them think twice about saying that someone is fit for work when that is obviously not the case.
Other potentials reforms to the system could include a presumption against being fit for work for certain medical conditions, such as terminal cancer and people with learning difficulties such as the girl in the Guardian article.
What other reforms would people like to see put in place so that the system is fairer to claimants, but provides an objective assessment of someone’s ability to work (or not as the case may be)
Surely, the real aim should be to reduce the number of wrong assessments.
Geoff
This is what I meant when I said “…reducing the number of successful appeals…”
The aim should be to make the right decision in the initial assessment. If this happens, then the number of successful appeals should go down.
Money should be clawed back from ATOS (or who ever conducts the initial assessments) for each successful appeal. This would give them a financial incentive to make the right decision first time.
This is what I meant when I said “…reducing the number of successful appeals…”
The aim should be to make the right decision in the initial assessment. If this happens, then the number of successful appeals should go down.
Money should be clawed back from ATOS (or who ever conducts the initial assessments) for each successful appeal. This would give them a financial incentive to make the right decision first time.
Of coures, duncanp, you have missed the real problem (which has been discussed here before).
The ATOSsers are merely carrying out an “assessment” based on a set of dubious criteria, which are totally without any rigorous foundation. The Descriptors that ATOS have to work to have a number of points attached to them. These points are on a scale that no self-respecting statistician would recognise as valid, and can best be described as an unequal interval scale, to assess a continuous variable (disability) to give a dichotomous decision (fit/not fit to work).
Hence, my assertation that the aim should be to reduce the number of wrong assassments. This covers more than someone who could not personally care less, working from a checklist, in a flawed procedure.
Geoff
I really wish we could form a party of our own and the main bl**dy aim would be to treat people fairly and with respect.
Ricahrd Branson was hopping up and down about the rail fiasco and he was right all along, so that 40m down the pan. Its all tainted by greed and bully boys who seem to behave in a loathsome manner quite frequently to boot as well which is deplorable.
I would have more faith in Mr Brason and Lord Sugar running the country though deciding which were the deputy could make some amusing TV
Whammel thanks I love that you post this stuff
Gillian x