Thursday 7 March 2013

You in for today's little task? #ESAendgame

*Waves at all the #ESAendgame people blushes a little there are so many, clears throat*

So, most of the public don't have a clue what ESA or WCAs are. For the next few weeks we need to dig out and share some of the best ESA stories or TV programmes or radio debates we remember and share them around. Everywhere.


Please post your favourite links in the comment thread. **IF LINK IS LONG PLEASE INDICATE WHERE IN ARTICLE INFO IS** 

Again if you can please leave your 

Name (or Twitter/Facebook/Pseudonym) &
Constituency


Here's a few tips :

-Always use the full Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) at first so people start to learn what it is. Same with WCAs

-Remember a particualar time Graying got shown for the liar he is? 
-Remember punching the air when the Mail or Telegraph or somewhere actually wrote something fair about ESA? 
-Remember a statistic that literally blew your head off?
-Remember the first time you read something so clear, a huge penny dropped?

-Dig them out and share share share. At work, online, on twitter
-Be prepared to be patient at first if people ask questions. They almost certainly won't be very sympathetic at first, but that's what they've been told, most people aren't unkind.
-Absolutely never rise to trolls under any circumstances. Stay polite and informative.

We need people to really start thinking about ESA, understanding what it is and what we're actually so afraid of and cross about. Print some off and scatter them round at work, in the hairdresser, on noticeboards - nothing is silly.

Time to fightback with facts!!!!



69 comments:

  1. An oldie but a goodie... Who's Cheating Who (BBC Scotland documentary) - part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yop7L95NyIU
    part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0GiLGDgk0M
    part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ8zgGN-zU8

    Also, the agency that employs my support workers has been giving them training on the various changes to the welfare system... their responses have been interesting to me. When they've been shown the WCA descriptors, the one that seems to shock them most is for the manual dexterity question (can you pick up a £1 coin, can you use a pen to make a "meaningful mark", etc).

    It was quite educational to see the WCA again with their "fresh" eyes. It made me think that we should be publicising some of these ridiculous questions, as far and wide as possible (every non-disabled person I've ever shown an ESA50 to has been outraged by at least one question!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a really good point. Also people could emphasise that these questions are the only basis, in reality, for deciding whether someone should get out of work disability benefits or not. (I think the term 'fit for work' often isn't clear to people - they may not realise this means 'no money to live on if you can't get a job').

      Delete
  2. kathleen hunt @kath_hunt North Devon

    #esaendgame

    Work capability assessment:http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/23/gps-work-capability-assessment-scrapped

    ReplyDelete
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  4. Argh, clicked post too early, sorry! I'm @sarahsea on Twitter, and I believe I live in Glasgow Central (just recently moved house!)

    I have a ton more links saved in my welfare rights folder, will peruse the rest of them this morning and see if there's anything else worth using. Thank you Sue, as ever, for rallying the troops.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MCThomson @Fibromitesunite Glenrothes & Central Fife (Lindsay Roy MP - Lab)

    "A DISABLED grandad who won an appeal after being declared fit to work by Atos got a £10 backdated Christmas bonus... in the middle of February.


    James Kerr endured a miserable festive season after the Atos assessment last October led to his employment and support allowance being stopped."

    www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/disabled-james-given-christmas-benefits-1730417

    --------

    "A DISABLED couple are facing a bleak Christmas after having their income slashed in the Tories’ blitz on benefits.

    Neil McCabe, 42, who has mental health problems, has been put through the wringer by Department of Work and Pensions assessments of his ability to work.

    In one year, Neil, of Inverness, has been examined four times and seen his points assessment go from 15 to zero to 27 and back down to six."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/disabled-couple-see-income-cut-1482692

    --------

    "THE full, shocking truth about Tory fitness-to-work tests is exposed today by the Daily Record.

    We sat alongside a man who is registered blind, needs a white stick and went to a special school for the blind as he was judged capable of holding down a job.

    Alexander Mackie, 26, was grilled for 20 minutes about how blind he is, why he doesn’t work, how he spends his time and even whether he has satellite sport on his TV.

    Based on that interview and a list of criteria including whether he is incontinent or can raise an arm above his shoulder, he was assessed as fit for work and will now have benefits withdrawn."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/revealed-tory-tests-passed-alexander-1473481

    --------

    "Atos benefits bullies killed my sick dad, says devastated Kieran, 13

    THE devastated youngster believes the benefits assessors' decision to deem his dad "fit for work" led to his death from a heart attack."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-killed-my-dad-says-boy-1411100

    --------

    "Campaigners attack drive to block benefits appeals as decisions get overturned

    A FIRM employed by theGovernment to weed outbenefit cheats are losing more than two thirds ofthe appeals against their decisions."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/campaigners-attack-drive-to-block-benefits-1112586


    --------

    "The Tories reached rock bottom - and that's something even for them - yesterday as David Cameron's vicious and brutal welfare reforms were unveiled.

    Among the many and enormous cuts was one, in particular, which proves just how uncaring the ConDems really are.

    For we now find ourselves living in a country where the banks pay less than the disabled to cut the national deficit."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-pay-forbanksfolly-1095253

    --------

    "A CON-DEM welfare blitz could force almost 200,000 Scots on sickness benefit to look for work.

    About 85,000 face losing incapacity benefit and being immediately dumped on the dole.

    And another 110,000 - including some cancer sufferers - will be expected to find work in the long term.

    That's despite Scotland having just 33,000 job vacancies and 225,000 people already out of work."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/fury-as-con-dem-coalition-launches-welfare-1094716

    --------

    "MEDICAL checks faced by more than 200,000 Scots benefits claimants were branded "not fit for purpose" last night.

    Labour MP Anne Begg warned people with severe disabilities will be declared fit for work under the Con-Dems' plan to slash sickness benefits.

    A programme to end incapacity benefit and move claimants on to either employment and support allowance (ESA) or jobseekers' allowance began yesterday with the launch of a pilot scheme in Aberdeen."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/fury-as-tories-launch-the-28-page-form-1072454

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/video/series-117/episode-1/britain-on-the-sick

    ReplyDelete
  7. MCThomson @Fibromitesunite Glenrothes & Central Fife (Lindsay Roy MP - Lab)

    "ATOS scandal victims speak to the Daily Record

    AFTER Scotland's newspaper highlighted the Atos scandal scores phones in. Here are just three cases."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-scandal-victims-speak-to-the-daily-1333694

    --------
    "Atos scandal: Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute

    PUBLIC fury is growing towards the French IT firm for their role in helping the Con-Dem government slash benefits."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-scandal-benefits-bosses-admit-1344278

    --------

    "Benefits bullies Atos driving Scots to brink of suicide, shock survey reveals

    AN astonishing one fifth of doctors believe Atos tests are giving patients suicidal thoughts, a report has revealed."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/benefits-bullies-atos-are-driving-scots-1342594

    --------

    "Nurse makes heartfelt apology after Atos forced her to trick disabled people out of benefits

    SCOTS nurse Joyce Drummond reveals how thousands of genuinely ill people were set up for a fall before they had even been assessed by benefits firm Atos."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nurse-makes-heartfelt-apology-after-1340838

    ReplyDelete
  8. Joe Cassels @joecassels Suffolk Coastal

    "People called shirkers"

    Kate Belgrave talks to people with mental health disabilities about their experiences with Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Work Capability Assessments (WCA) http://www.katebelgrave.com/2013/01/these-people-are-not-shirkers/

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://fullfact.org/factchecks/ATOS_ESA_assessments_overturned-3135

    swansea east.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Fibrography (Leigh)
    Crewe

    I recently shared the following links on Facebook (Via Another Angry Voice) and thought perhaps they would be relevant here: (Copied and pasted exactly as it was posted)

    The evidence:
    http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf


    More evidence:
    http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-atos-disability-denial-factory.html


    The debate in Parliament:
    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130117/debtext/130117-0002.htm#13011761000001

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  12. ME again: @Fibrography (Leigh)
    I know this is a Daily Mail article (and they are rarely on our side) but it was written by the wonderful (and independent Journalist) Sonia Poulton:

    Oh dear Dave. Now GPs have turned on you. (GPs against the WCA)

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2149854/Oh-dear-Dave-Now-GPs-turned-Time-exit-strategy-disabled-perhaps.html#axzz2KIH5k3Ic

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dee Wilde-Walker
    Blaydon

    I'm gathering ESAEndGame posts into a bundle. Here: http://bitly.com/bundles/o_7ueh519drs/1

    I aim to include posts that are of immediate practical use to ESAEndGame twitter activists.

    If anything is missing you think needs including, tweet me @wildwalkerwoman

    And truly great work, Sue - thank you so very much.

    ReplyDelete
  14. A good place to start is this mythbusting research on benefits stigma - http://www.turn2us.org.uk/about_us/research/benefits_stigma_in_britain.aspx?utm_source=e&utm_medium=bul&utm_content=dec12&utm_campaign=bens

    ReplyDelete
  15. For me, I'll link this by Declan Gaffney, but for the record, you can pick anything at random on welfare and it will make at least 10 people go "No way?? REally?" I recommend linking to it a lot http://lartsocial.org/stigma

    ReplyDelete
  16. This article advising that the original DWP planning 'assumption' figures were that 11% of disabled would be fast-tracked into the support group owing to their condition being e.g. terminal/progressive/permanent etc. When the Atos contract was drawn up the figure of 11% is reported to have been misread as the *full* figure for the support group, when the assumptions stated that this was merely that fast-track figure i.e. that other disabled would be added to the support group after assessments etc. If this is the case (and as it's based on a FOI request it needs to be considered) then it is a massive underlying reason for much of the issues regarding inappropriate placement in the WRAG group. I can't follow this link from the server I'm currently using, so fingers crossed you can follow this link (if not maybe try contacting dpac for the details and the FOI response it's based on)...

    http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/02/11-was-never-intended-to-be-the-number-of-people-in-the-support-group-dwp-big-blunder-annie-howard/


    How about this link re how disability and sickness are not these same...

    http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/31/benefits-and-targets-sickness-and-disability-are-not-the-same/


    And, of course, the transcript from the parliamentary backbenchers discussion in the 17th Jan this year (the most un-debate-like political discussion I've ever seen as all attendee's from all parties were in complete agreement)but where Mark Hoban brushed the entire event aside (including all questions asked) using the exact same spiel as usual with Michael Meacher had expressly asked him not to do.
    (scroll down to "Backbenchers business: Atos Work Capability Assessments")

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130117/debtext/130117-0002.htm#13011761000001

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mark Newman, @sassenachweegie on Twitter, Glasgow South:

    Source: Daily Record

    "Nurse makes heartfelt apology after Atos forced her to trick disabled people out of benefits"

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nurse-makes-heartfelt-apology-after-1340838

    ReplyDelete
  18. jonothon laycock @obsidian76
    Workington
    Links about UNUM and their involvment in this corporate takeover of the welfare state

    http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2011/11/new-evidence-of-corporate-giants-influence-on-welfare-reform/

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmworpen/401/3021203.htm

    http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/05/29/disability-denial-factories-working-uk/
    http://dwpexamination.wordpress.com/welare-reform-tyranny-direct-from-the-usa-by-mo-stewart/


    ReplyDelete
  19. MCThomson @Fibromitesunite Glenrothes & Central Fife (Lindsay Roy MP - Lab)

    These mainly refers to Atos handling of ESA WCA's

    "Fury as benefits bullies DWP force 50,000 disabled Scots to go back to work

    LABOUR MP Tom Greatrex and disability campaigners hit out after an astonishing 70 per cent of people put through Atos’s tests were passed as being fit or potentially fit to get jobs."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/dwp-force-50000-disabled-scots-1563213

    --------

    "CAMPAIGNERS laid a wreath yesterday to mourn the death of decency and compassion caused by the Tory-led crackdown on benefits.

    The Daily Record has been highlighting the plight of those who have had their disability payments taken off them by medical testing firm Atos.

    Yesterday the consequences of the benefits blitz were laid bare as protesters claimed 73 sick and disabled Britons – from the terminally ill to those with industrial injuries – die every week while trying to scrape by on breadline payments."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/protesters-blast-tory-cuts-and-claim-1471720

    --------

    "Tories label Atos scandal stories as 'anecdotal' but campaign is hailed by other parties

    PARTIES hit out at 'disgraceful' work capability assessments carried out by Atos that have left many people feeling humiliated."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/tories-accuse-atos-scandal-stories-1346317

    --------

    "Labour MP calls for 'fundamental reform' of Atos' capability assessment

    THE Record has found that more than half of the people who have had their disability benefits stopped by Atos, after having the capability test, have been left jobless and with no income."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/labour-mp-calls-for-fundamental-reform-1347921

    --------

    "A BLIND Scot yesterday told MSPs the axemen hired to slash benefits made disabled people “feel like criminals”.

    Henry Sherlock, 50, gave his heartbreaking testimony to Holyrood’s welfare reform committee.

    It came as pressure intensified on the Con-Dem Government over welfare reforms set to devastate the most vulnerable in society."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/atos-make-disabled-people-feel-1331270

    --------

    "Enough to make you sick: Government urged to claw back millions from contractors after they wrongly assessed thousands on disability benefits

    BUNGLED rulings by the private firm deciding whether benefit claimants are fit to work are costing taxpayers £50million, we can reveal."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/enough-to-make-you-sick-government-1107605

    --------

    "Sickness benefit clawback firm tells GP people are 'claimants, not patients'

    EXCLUSIVE: THE private firm paid by the Government to claw back disability benefit told an undercover GP they treated people like "claimants, not patients".


    THE private firm paid by the Government to claw back disability benefit told an undercover GP they treated people like "claimants, not patients".

    Margaret McCartney, a GP in Glasgow, revealed how French-owned Atos Healthcare would slash the benefits bill after going to one of their recruitment evenings.

    The firm are being paid £100million a year by the Tories to reassess people currently claiming disability and sickness benefit.

    Dr McCartney claims Atos staff are under pressure to assess people quickly and are told they are not working in "a typical caring role"."

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/sickness-benefit-clawback-firm-tells-10

    ReplyDelete
  20. http://socialwelfareunion.org/archives/488 - Social Welfare Union -
    Iain Duncan Smith Takes Welfare Reform Crusade To The US

    ReplyDelete
  21. MCThomson @Fibromitesunite Glenrothes & Central Fife (Lindsay Roy MP - Lab)

    "Charities and experts have warned that the 20,000 cancer patients who receive employment and support allowance (ESA) would lose between £138 and £191 a year by 2015 under the proposals. In total over the next three years, cancer patients would lose an estimated £6m in ESA payments, says Macmillan Cancer Support."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/17/cancer-patients-cuts-benefits-bill-charities?INTCMP=SRCH

    -------

    Sickness benefit: lost in the ESA appeal system - video

    Marcus has spent the last three years battling a tumour, migraines and depression, but for much of that period has had no support from the benefit system. He has applied for employment and support allowance, but is one of thousands appealing against a decision that he is fit for work

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/video/2012/mar/19/sickness-benefit-esa-appeal-video?INTCMP=SRCH

    --------
    "Terminally ill claimant asked to leave hospice bed to pursue benefit"

    "Insensitive treatment of dying claimant raises fears over new benefit

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/mar/10/social-exclusion-benefits?INTCMP=SRCH

    --------

    "Disabled people among the hardest hit by spending review

    Osborne limits employment support allowance to one year

    Disabled people will be among the hardest hit by the comprehensive spending review. The chancellor announced savings of £2bn by limiting to one year the length of time people can claim the contributory element of employment support allowance (ESA)."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/20/spending-review-disabled-people?INTCMP=SRCH

    --------

    "Chris Grayling, you've made me financially as well as physically disabled
    Employment support allowance offers me a shred of dignity. And tomorrow ministers take it away from me

    ...payments of contributory employment support allowance (ESA) will be limited to just one year – regardless of whether a claimant is well enough to return to work."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/29/chris-grayling-made-me-financially-physically-disabled?INTCMP=SRCH

    --------

    "Work capability assessment is assessed, and found lacking

    The eligibility test for the new employment support allowance is widely condemned to MPs at a pilot scheme meeting

    MPs on the work and pensions select committee were in Burnley on Monday listening to the views of benefit claimants who have been part of a pilot for a new test designed to filter those people able to work from those who are too sick or disabled to do so. ...

    ...If they expected positive accounts they will have been disappointed. Speaker after speaker at the public meeting at Burnley football club gave negative accounts of their experience of being tested for eligibility for the new employment support allowance, the replacement for incapacity benefit, which is to be introduced nationwide from the start of next month."

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/mar/07/work-capability-assessment-criticism?INTCMP=SRCH

    ReplyDelete
  22. This post is on behalf of Nancy Rowell, Aldershot and Farnborough:

    Wasting tax-payers money:
    1) duplication of assessment - use NHS (doctors etc) reports when available instead of assessing via ATOS
    2) re-assessment after one year for lifelong and/or progressive disabilities/illnesses
    3) high rate of appeals and esp successful appeals
    4) reassessment just days/weeks after a tribunal decision
    5) not penalising ATOS for wrong decisions

    ReplyDelete
  23. robparsons from Lewes

    Calling claimants "stock" - shows what they think

    And making the poorest in the country pay the price for the mistakes made by the richest.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @JamJar21
    Bolton South East
    I didn't catch who it was, but one MP questioned Andrew Lansley on the inexplicable difference in the figures and the reporting of figures of those who have died whilst waiting to receive ESA this was on Business Questions on BBC Parliament today (07/03/13).
    The Coalition exaggerating figures of fraud:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/14/disability-living-allowance-reform-analysis

    ReplyDelete
  25. Liam Barker- THE worst story I have EVER heard of ESA http://samedifference1.com/2012/09/22/how-many-more-liam-barkers-will-there-be/

    Sarah Ismail, @samedifference1, Ruislip, Northwood, Pinner, Nick Hurd MP.

    ReplyDelete
  26. http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/number-of-disabled-people-helped-into-work-drops-by-over-a-third/

    ReplyDelete
  27. MPs criticise disability benefits tests

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21376915

    ReplyDelete
  28. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/helen-goodman/work-capability-test-is-truly-shocking_b_2582099.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  29. James Major, found fit for work despite open sores and ulcers on his leg

    http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Grimsby-man-told-fit-work-despite-blood-clots/story-15943351-detail/story.html#axzz2MrnbmhNG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgot my details

      Sam Bangert Twitter: @sampbang @NoToUKCoalition

      Constituency: Stevenage

      Delete
  30. Marianne deSantis:

    "Clean that blood up" woman told in Atos office:
    http://virtualgherkin.blogspot.com/2013/02/clean-that-blood-up.html

    Man told he is fit to work despite blood clots, septicaemia and ulcers…
    http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Grimsby-man-told-fit-work-despite-blood-clots/story-15943351-detail/story.html

    Man needing 24-hour care deemed fit to work:
    http://www.tayfm.co.uk/news/dundee-family-hit-out-after-dwp-letter/

    Video: Human cost of welfare reform: 'I'm being punished because of my health':
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Pt3-1WTWJeg

    Over half ATOS found ‘fit for work’ left unemployed: http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/09/26/over-half-ruled-by-atos-as-fit-for-work-left-unemployed/

    Terminally ill cancer patients face being forced to do unpaid work: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/16/disabled-unpaid-work-benefit-cuts

    Video: IDS makes blind man beg:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mDHmXfdt2kU

    10,600 sick & disabled people died in 2011 within six weeks of their claim ending:
    http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/10/04/10600-sick-disabled-people-died-last-year-within-six-weeks-of-their-claim-ending/

    Survey: Disabled driven to suicide by welfare reforms:
    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/enough-is-enough-disabled-people-are-driven-to-suicide-because-of-the-governments-welfare-reform-8197640.html

    Atos assessment death rate dwarfs that of soldiers in Afghanistan:
    http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/atos-assessment-death-rate-dwarfs-that-of-soldiers-in-afghanistan/

    ATOS call back cancer and dementia sufferers:
    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/benefits-clawback-firm-atos-call-1442310

    DPAC Survey Exposes “Bullying” Atos Assessments:
    http://www.dpac.uk.net

    Sick and Disabled to Be Sent on Workfare (by the same charities who claim to support them):
    http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/sick-and-disabled-claimants-now-to-be-sent-on-workfare-by-the-same-charities-who-claim-to-support-them/

    Disabled Man's Benefits Suicide: Cameron responds:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VnHBfW0_u5A

    Remembering the victims of the Government’s Welfare “Reforms”:
    http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/remembering-the-welfare-reform-deaths/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From Marianne (continued):

      Atos scandal: Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute
      http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-scandal-benefits-bosses-admit-1344278

      WHY THE DWP-ATOS BROWN ENVELOPE CAN KILL YOU: Broken Heart Sudden Adult Death Syndrome
      http://uk-condemnation.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/why-dwpatos-brown-envelope-can-kill-you.html

      DWP manipulated DLA figures to justify cuts, say MPs
      http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/03/government-manipulated-dla-figures-to-try-to-justify-cuts/

      Narcissists have an inbred aversion to sick people
      http://uk-condemnation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/narcissists-have-inbred-aversion-to.html

      Who's legally liable for wellbeing of claimants found fit for work?
      http://uk-condemnation.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/whos-legally-liable-for-wellbeing-of.html

      Cancer patients who struggle to pay their energy bills: Thousands are behind with one in four owing more than £200
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253549/Cancer-patients-struggle-pay-energy-bills-Thousands-owing-200.html#ixzz2GEisbgfw

      No Christmas at home for disabled (ILF)
      http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/127583

      Benefits Reform Death Roll: Changing Their Lives
      http://munguinsrepublic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/we-are-youll-remember-all-in-it-togetehr.html

      Disabled Man's Suicide Over Jobcentre Bullying
      http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk/news/fears-over-benefits-led-to-tragedy-1.1024319?

      24,000 Died Last Winter Through Fuel Poverty
      http://www.labourleft.co.uk/24000-died-last-winter-through-fuel-poverty/

      Woman Recovering from Double Lung Transplant has benefits cut to £21 p/w
      http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2012/12/21/woman-recovering-from-double-lung-transplant-has-benefits-cut-to-21-pw/

      Iain Duncan Smith's callous disrespect for the dead
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec3wJlHtVMM&feature=player_embedded

      Delete
  31. @VioletNights Isle of Wight

    Claimants 'tricked out of benefits' says jobcentre whistleblower:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLgg75stn4

    ReplyDelete
  32. @VioletNights Isle of Wight

    Told to clean up own blood at Atos office, scandalous inhuman abuse meted out to a severely ill person:

    http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l06hje


    ATOS forcing disability websites offline:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0DUqOq4Bzk&list=FLMCUFN2JQNPxA2ribjnyaPw&index=10&noredirect=1


    ReplyDelete
  33. http://mikesivier.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/deconstructing-iain-coalition-benefit-lies-fall-apart-at-debate/

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130117/debtext/130117-0002.htm#13011761000001

    Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab): I beg to move,

    That this House has considered the matter of Atos work capability assessments.

    I warmly thank the Backbench Business Committee for enabling me and cross-party colleagues to introduce this debate on Atos work capability assessments. There is enormous concern about the issue both in the country and in this House, as witnessed by the fact that more than 30 Members wish to speak on a Thursday. To try to ensure that they can all do so, I propose to speak for no more than 10 to 15 minutes. I hope that colleagues will accept that, for reasons of pressure on time, I do not propose to take interventions.

    As knowledge of the debate has spread, I have been sent nearly 300 case histories, many of which make heart-rending reading. I cannot begin to do justice to their feelings of distress, indignation, fear, helplessness and, indeed, widespread anger at the way they have been treated. Nor can I easily contain my own feelings at the slowness, rigidity and insensitivity with which Atos and the Department for Work and Pensions have responded—or very often not responded—to the cries of pain that they have heard repeatedly. I have time to cite briefly only three examples which show how extreme is the dysfunction and malfunctioning of the Atos assessments.

    The first example concerns a constituent of mine who was epileptic almost from birth and was subject to grand mal seizures. At the age of 24, he was called in by Atos, classified as fit for work and had his benefit cut by £70 a week. He appealed, but became agitated and depressed and lost weight, fearing that he could not pay his rent or buy food. Three months later, he had a major seizure that killed him. A month after he died, the DWP rang his parents to say that it had made a mistake and his benefit was being restored.

    The second example, also from the Oldham area, concerns a middle-aged woman who was registered blind and in an advanced stage of retinitis pigmentosa. She was assessed at 9 points—well short of the 15 that are needed—and her incapacity benefit was withdrawn. On review by a tribunal, the Atos rating of 9 points was increased to 24.

    The third case—I could have chosen from hundreds of others—also comes from the north-west and concerns an insulin-dependent diabetic with squamous cell cancer, Hughes syndrome, which involves a failed immune system, peripheral neuropathy, which meant that he had no feeling in his feet or legs, heart disease, depression and anxiety. Despite his life-threatening condition, he was placed in the work-related activity group.

    Those and myriad other examples illustrate incontrovertibly that Atos’s current work capability assessment system is drastically flawed, and for several reasons. First, Atos is an IT firm and it uses the so-called Logic Integrated Medical Assessment, which is often described as “rigid” and “tick-box” because computer-based systems make it difficult for health professionals to
    17 Jan 2013 : Column 1051

    exercise their professional judgment. Because such a mechanistic system has little or no regard for the complexity of the needs of severely disabled or sick persons, the British Medical Association and others have condemned the current WCA as “not fit for purpose”.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I've dug out a few links from WOWpetition's facebook page. I believe wowpetition.com should have other items as they have been collecting too. %)

    Too well for ESA, not well enough for JSA:
    http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2224-esa-appeals-nightmare-confirmed

    Ed Miliband/Labour's letter on ATOS/WCA & failure to adapt quickly enough:
    http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2013/02/27/letter-from-ed-miliband-on-atoswca-but-is-it-enough/

    Workprogramme's 0.2% success rate for getting disabled into work; so what point WCA?:
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/work-programme-finds-jobs-just-1723543

    "The iniquities of the work capability assessment (WCA), which disabled people have to pass in order to continue to receive benefit, have been well recorded. Decisions are overturned in 38% of appeals heard and 14% of GPs say they have patients who have self-harmed as a result of fear of the assessment or actually going through it. A further 6% of GPs say they have patients who have attempted or committed suicide.":
    http://www.communitycare.co.uk/articles/25/02/2013/118938/flawed-fit-to-work-tests-pile-work-on-social-workers-and-harm-clients.htm

    "A poll out on Monday showing that a majority of the public believe welfare spending should be increased or kept at the current level has surprised many people.":
    http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/02/public-attitude-to-welfare-claimants/

    Now "more and more stories are filtering into the press creating negativity for the Government. Stories of poverty, of starving children, of people dying..." These are "Sign[s] Of Weakness: The Government Are Losing Their War Against The Welfare ‘Scrounger’":
    http://welfarenewsservice.com/a-sign-of-weakness-the-government-are-losing-their-war-against-the-welfare-scrounger/#.UTiwshxJI_0

    "If, as IDS says, benefits are being paid as wages for work experience schemes, then ... I suspect that it breaches minimum wage laws. If they are not, as officially claimed by his department, then we have forced unpaid labour.":
    http://www.latentexistence.me.uk/iain-duncan-smith-has-no-respect-for-manual-labour/

    Clause 99, Catch 22 – The ESA Mandatory Second Revision and Appeals. Unfairness. Weeks or months with no income:
    http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/735/

    "The figures are pretty stark: out of 68,000 ESA claimants placed on the Work Programme since it began, only 1,000 have found jobs lasting three months or more...":
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2013/01/the_great_disability_scam_as_t.html

    Stats counter official ConDems rhetorical narrative, so naturally DWP unwilling to comment...:
    http://www.thefedonline.org.uk/disability-in-the-news/government-stats-show-most-new-esa-claimants-are-not-fit-for-work

    **Trigger Warning** Alas since "not found" altho' listed when searching! Benefits Cuts, suicides and deaths. | Politics UK
    26 Dec 2012 ... Mark and Helen Mullins were found lying side by side in their home after committing suicide together.They had been left destitute after Helen ...
    politicsuk.eu/archives/12537:
    http://politicsuk.eu/search/?cx=partner-pub-6454226542398136%3A4908208190&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=suicide&sa=Search
    Not technical enough how to track down. Sorry!

    Hope these are of use! %)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Luvlymish/Mish Liddle/Mish, Lancaster & Fleetwood

    The Panorama programme Disabled or Faking It. Another example of the fact that the government wouldn't understand actual efficiency, let alone human decency if it was rubbed in the faces.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wq21j

    ReplyDelete
  37. Simon Hickmans ATOS assessment, audio recorded. From the description on youtube:

    This is a recording of Simon Hickmans atos assessment. This is how they treat people with mental health problems, no support what so ever. When I left the room due to questions around my suicidal thoughts I was just left to it. No attempt was made to see how I was.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG9a22hbrcY

    ReplyDelete
  38. We collected real people's stories of their experience of Atos. You can find them in their pure form here

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/105841279/The-Atos-Monologues2

    We used excerpts of these interspersed with things Atos, the DWP and government have said to create this play too

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/93380043/ATOS-STORIESVersion5May

    These are free to download and put on wherever you are to educate the public. Let us know so we can keep track.

    atosstories@gmail.com
    http://atosstories.blogspot.co.uk/

    The Atos Stories Collective

    ReplyDelete
  39. This is Staffordshire March 2012

    Cancer mum told: You're fit to work

    http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Cancer-mum-told-fit-work/story-15625914-detail/story.html#axzz2Ms7A7rp8

    ReplyDelete
  40. "The Treasury, however, will be looking for a short-term reductions at a time of a huge public spending scaleback. It's increased pressure on Duncan Smith by telling other departments that more he cuts welfare spending, the more their budgets will be protected."
    http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2010/07/iain-duncan-smith-plans-the-most-ambitious-welfare-reforms-since-beveridge-lets-hope-the-treasury-is.html

    ReplyDelete
  41. Daily Mail April 2012

    Man with life-threatening blood clots and open leg ulcers loses benefits after job centre labels him fit for work

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2137377/Man-suffering-blood-clots-open-ulcers-loses-benefits-job-centre-labels-fit-work.html

    ReplyDelete
  42. Lancashire Telegraph Feb 2012

    Benefits man found hanged, inquest heard

    http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/9550982.Benefits_man_found_hanged__inquest_heard/?ref=twtrec

    ReplyDelete
  43. This is Staffordshire April 2012

    Being clean led to benefits cut

    http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/clean-led-benefits-cut/story-15781488-detail/story.html#axzz2MsBnLurZ

    ReplyDelete
  44. Telegraph & Argus May 2012

    Forklift driver who lost leg told: You're fit to work

    http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9700223.Forklift_driver_who_lost_leg_told__You_re_fit_to_work/?ref=twtrec

    ReplyDelete
  45. The Guardian October 2012

    Get ready for work: what woman who needs constant care was told

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/03/work-woman-care?CMP=twt_fd

    ReplyDelete
  46. @Bellrcat, Norwich South

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2094805/Why-does-David-Cameron-insist-disability-cuts-sickened-party.html

    When the Mail stick up for those they previously vilified, you know things are messed up.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Ive got a corking IDS blog piece . I'll dig it out.... http://virtualgherkin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/three-strikes-and-out-why-is-he-still.html < there.

    ReplyDelete
  48. http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/fit_to_work_dad_had_heart_attack_1_4228295
    http://www.disabledgo.com/blog/2011/06/camerons-constituent-appeals-for-help-after-inhuman-atos-treatment/
    http://carerwatch.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/the-employment-support-allowance-trap/
    and the dispatches programme which I did a blog on http://twisted-news.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/message-for-atos.html hope these are of help

    ReplyDelete
  49. Remember that charities sub-contracting in the Work Programme being used as 'bid candy' and then hardly ever receiving any referrals was a huge story?

    Behold as the mainstream media utterly ignored the larger one when it was revealed that many on the sub-contractor list were never even aware that they had been put on it. I didn't know how widespread it was back then, but when Chris Grayling first put out the deceitful 'big boost to the big society as Citizens Advice joins the Work Programme' press release I blogged about what my boss at CAB said about it.

    http://masondixonautistic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/case-6.html

    A survey of charities on the sub-contractor list published in January revealed from the responses that many of the respondents only heard for the first time that they were on the list when the survey team contacted them. Will look for link.

    ReplyDelete
  50. @wildcandytuft St Helens North

    13 Feb 2012

    Lord Freud announces that there will be a gap in payments as sick people wishing to appeal a wrongful decision will first have to request a reconsideration. They will either have to go without an income or claim JSA, even though at least 40% of appeals are upheld in the claimants favour. There is no time limit on this. Seriously ill people will be made destitute.

    (Legal aid for benefit appeals will be stopped from April)

    Lord Bach smells the rat...

    "This is clearly an important day for the future of our social security system, and the House has heard why so many of us believe this to be a day of shame for our country and its reputation as a civilised and just place to live and work."

    His entire speech can be read here in Hansard;

    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/130213-0003.htm

    ReplyDelete
  51. One from yesterday, a harrowing story! A young woman with bipolar disorder cuts her throat (severly) twice after receiving letters from Atos, even though they assured the people caring for her that they wouldn't contact her directly again. Their excuse was that the letters are computer generated. Atos do not understand mental health and the real harm these assessments causes.

    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/03/tragedy-alice

    ReplyDelete
  52. Margaret Hodge MP (chair of Public Accounts Committee) on ITV news - I'm sure they've cut the bit where she said the DWP had figures on 10,300 people who had died within weeks of being fit for work!

    http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-08/the-department-for-work-and-pensions-dwp-criticised-for-wrong-decisions-over-atos/

    Absolutely damning report from the Public Accounts Committee on the Department of Work and Pensions Contract Management of Medical Services 8 Feb 2013.

    "The Work Capability Assessment process hits the most vulnerable claimants hardest. The one size fits all approach fails to account adequately for mental health conditions or those which are rare or fluctuating. While the Department has started to improve, the process is still too inflexible and too often is so stressful for applicants that their health simply gets worse."

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/contract-management-of-medical-services/

    ReplyDelete
  53. Gardian."Sick and disabled people are being kicked off benefits at any cost". Cardiff south and Penarth

    ReplyDelete
  54. "the level of benefit payments in the UK are a huge disincentive to working" - Cheeky Girls on Politics show "This week" today

    ReplyDelete
  55. all the links around on the sick and panorama are here: http://allbigideas.blogspot.com/2012/07/links-related-to-onthesick-and-panorama.html

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  56. @Robinhoodedman
    Nottingham East - Chris Leslie

    IDS losing the plot with Owen Jones. starts at 0:18

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec3wJlHtVMM

    ReplyDelete
  57. I don't know if this helps or if I should have mentioned it on your last post but when I went for my work capability assessment I was actually asked ... "Why haven't you killed yourself already?"

    PanicDisordered on Facebook / Twitter / Wordpress

    Kent

    ReplyDelete
  58. Sickness benefit: 'They try their damnedest to avoid paying'
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/19/sickness-benefit-try-avoid-paying

    The Full Extent of the Tories’ Assault on the Disabled Exposed
    http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/04/10/the-full-extent-of-the-tories-assault-on-the-disabled-

    exposed/

    ReplyDelete
  59. Cathy
    Gosport

    "If you are unfit for work and you have medical evidence to prove it and you are employed, both yourself and your employer are committing criminal offences under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. [Likewise with Atos.]...

    "If ATOS aren’t giving diagnoses how come they are giving prognoses?"

    These seem to be very important points (found about halfway through the article).
    http://diaryofansahstrokesurvivor.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/returning-to-work-early-after-illness-is-it-really-good-for-ones-health/

    ReplyDelete
  60. Two powerful articles from Laurie Penney in the New Statesman:

    You are not a scrounger: a letter to a [suicidal]disabled reader
    http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/2012/12/you-are-not-scrounger-letter-disabled-reader


    Why do we accept the status quo? Why, frankly, isn’t Parliament Square on fire?
    http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2013/01/why-do-we-accept-status-quo-why-frankly-isnt-parliament-square-fire

    ReplyDelete
  61. And another -- raises many important points including disabled 'suicide as spectacle': Christos Palmer's hunger strike.

    Sick and tired: the coalition’s war on the disabled and destitute
    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/11/sick-and-tired-coalitions-war-disabled-and-destitute

    ReplyDelete
  62. ATOS-related stress:

    Living with chronic stress could increase a person's risk of dementia, researchers are warning

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2295180/Could-stressful-job-Alzheimers-New-research-shows-link-stress-hormones-disease.html

    ReplyDelete
  63. £9.69 'bedroom tax' demand for Inverness MS sufferer
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21788294

    ReplyDelete
  64. Drug addiction is never a secret and is consistently present all across the globe. There are a lot of different reasons that could cause a person to get addicted to drugs. Addiction Intervention

    ReplyDelete