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Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support

Hi,

I'm new here - I signed up partly to post about a petition that's trying to get the appalling WCA stopped (http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...ng-sick-disabled-people.312405/#post-12369651) and I've been starting to read some of the posts on this thread.

However bad I know the WCA is, having been through it myself, seen friends go through it, and having read so many awful reports of people's experiences since starting trying to promote the petition, I'm still never prepared for how horrified I feel reading more. I'm feeling so sorry for everyone on here that's been chewed up and spat out by this vicious system, and because it's June and my own ESA (support group - I had to get a reconsideration from WRAG) is due to be reviewed at the end of July, I'm finding myself hyperventilating and anxious at the thought of going through it all again. I lost half a stone last time (dangerous, because I have gut problems and am already underweight), and I didn't even end up having to go through full appeal.

It's one of the most obviously failed policies I can think of - I almost can't believe it can carry on much longer in its current form, but both the government and the opposition still seem to be in denial as to how fundamentally flawed it is :(
Sorry you had to go through such agony, and hope that you get the result you want this time round
 
I still don't understand how I was put on this when I've not contributed for the last 10 yrs. I may ask my personal adviser when I see them tomorrow. I'm so looking forward to this, not!
If you've been on IB contributions have been made for you, by the state, but my knowledge is limited so, hopefully others will know more.
 
Have spent much of this morning on the phone to the mental health advocacy service, who are not sure if I fit the criteria of people they can help:confused:- it seems to be a theme in this, they suggested I contact the CAB, which I did and missed their walk in service for this week by half an hour, rather than contact the DWP with a half arsed "I think things arn't right but I am not certain of what things those are, I am going to wait till I can see the CAB on monday, and will have prepared the what I think is wrong with the medical report by then. Having trouble with pain, sciatica is painful, but I think there are a number o people on this thread who are similarly disabled.
 
I think I kind of have to because she gave me the form, told me to appeal and didn't continue with the interview. The form is very small. I may have to type something up and just add it to the envelope. I will remember to put name address & nat ins no on it :)
 
So the lady I saw said I should appeal to be put in the support group :eek: I have a form to fill in and send off asap.
interesting, and informative, I think if I don't get some clear plan on monday when I go to the cab I may go and see the lady in the job centre who I saw in November

I think I kind of have to because she gave me the form, told me to appeal and didn't continue with the interview. The form is very small. I may have to type something up and just add it to the envelope. I will remember to put name address & nat ins no on it :)

is there a title or a number on the form she gave you? Is it an abc123 or similar?
 
is there a title or a number on the form she gave you? Is it an abc123 or similar?
On the front it just says If you think our decision is wrong April 2013 but on the back page there is a tiny number GL24 in the bottom left corner. I think it is just a generic appeal form tbh.
 
I think you're supposed to launch an appeal within 30 days of a decision, however, it might be different if the Job Centre have instigated it.
 
I think you need to check this with someone, my only knowledge is regarding my pension which is much less than the benefit amount and I understand I would get my pension with a top up to the benefit amount. It would also mean I was eligble to means tested beneits - council tax beneit amd housing benefit which would pay mortgage interest.

just a thought on this -

housing benefit is available if you're renting; mortgage interest via income support is (in some circumstances) available if your income falls at or under the income support level. they are not the same thing, and (as things stand at present) you claim housing benefit via local councils (although you can put something that effectively says "I want to make a claim" via DWP) but it is usually quicker to contact council direct. Mortgage interest is handled via DWP.

Quite what the heck will happen when universal credit goes live is beyond me, and I'm not sure it's been properly thought through yet.

Housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB) are not "all or nothing" -and are not restricted to people getting means tested benefits (and for that matter, they are not restricted to people getting other benefits - you can claim if you're working and on a low income.)

While you would get maximum HB / CTB if you're on a means tested benefit (or if your income is at the sane level), you can still get some HB / CTB if you're on a low income above that point, so it may be worth claiming even in your current circumstances.

you can in some circumstances claim 'backdated' benefit (i.e. from before you put your claim in) but it's not easy, and has got more difficult lately.)

may be worth a look at the calculator on turn2us (anonymous, and not linked to government or council.)

apologies if i'm stating the obvious here, but a lot of people do think they wouldn't be entitled to housing / council tax benefit when they would be...
 
oops :facepalm: @ me

yes, local council tax reduction schemes - although they (broadly) work in much the same way as CTB used to, but yes, anyone would have to check with their local council to see how the scheme works locally (there's more local discretion than there used to be)

but if in doubt, claim!

Undoubtedly. I wasn't trying to undermine your (otherwise decent) post :)
 
Today, I had a client who was called in for his ATOS assessment in Juiy last year. Predictably, he failed, and entered a nightmare of fear and trauma, which left him suicidal and despairing.

His tribunal hearing, seven months later in February overturned the decision.

I have worked hard with him - beyond, it has to be said, the call of duty - to get him back on his feet and start moving forward again.

Last week, despite being told by the tribunal he should not be recalled for a year, he received another summons from ATOS for a new assessment.

WHY is this kind of persecution considered acceptable in a civilised nation? I am a professional, and there is nothing I can do professionally to help him in this situation. All my good work is for naught, and all so that a gang of politicians can pander to themselves and those who vote for them that they are Getting Tough On The Workshy Scroungers.

God help my local MP, Simon Hart, should he come smarming his way around here at election time. He won't get short shrift - I intend to keep him hanging around a lot longer than that, while I explain to him at length what harm his morally bankrupt bunch of thieves and shysters have achieved.

I despair, I really do.
 
Today, I had a client who was called in for his ATOS assessment in Juiy last year... Last week, despite being told by the tribunal he should not be recalled for a year, he received another summons from ATOS for a new assessment

Grr...

God help my local MP, Simon Hart, should he come smarming his way around here at election time.

Can you not write to him? With your client's permission, of course. Express your concern about the waste of taxpayers' money, not only in the assessment itself but also the appeals process, and how ATOS's actions are forcing people nearer poverty - I'm assuming your client paid for your work out of his own meagre funds - so forcing him that much nearer further state aid. He's a Tory, so you've got to stress the financial aspects.

Perhaps a more subtle approach might be to the National Audit Office, suggesting that ATOS might be misusing state funds? Generating unnecessary work for themselves etc...

I rather suspect this will be passed off as (creative) incompetence. It is, after all, a year since his last assessment, and such an administrative error is so easy to make...
 
Last week, despite being told by the tribunal he should not be recalled for a year, he received another summons from ATOS for a new assessment.

Phone the DWP, write to Atos and his MP and they'll more than likely back off.

Edit: Atos are unlikely to respond, the DWP will come out with 'some "error" in the system', blah, blah, blah, but his MP will have to respond.
 
From this National Audit Office document:

NAO - bolding mine said:
6 According to the performance data provided, Atos Healthcare has not
routinely met all the service standards specified in the contract. Schedule 5 of the
contract lists 32 service levels, covering assessment processing times, the quality of
work done and customer service. Our detailed review of four of these targets found that:
•Of the proportion of customers sent home unseen, the contractor exceeded
the target of 1 per cent nearly every month between November 2010 and
January 2012.
•On the quality of medical assessments, Atos Healthcare generally met the service
level thresholds, except for a short period in 2011.
•On average case clearance times (for which the target is 35 working days for
Employment and Support Allowance claimants), performance against target was
poor in 2009 and poor again since mid- 2011.
•On complaints handling, performance data indicates that Atos Healthcare generally
meets its complaints clearance target of 20 working days.
7 It is not clear how far contractor performance has contributed to the high
percentage of successful benefit appeals. Some 38 per cent of appeals against
an Employment and Support Allowance benefit decision are found in favour of the
customer...
8 The Department has not sought adequate financial redress for
underperformance... Just 10 per cent of service credits triggered have
been applied.
 
I think you're supposed to launch an appeal within 30 days of a decision, however, it might be different if the Job Centre have instigated it.

How can you appeal against a wrong decision until you know what the difference between WRAG and support group is though? Despite sending me approx 10 pages of paper all the letter told me was I was now getting ESA and had been put in the WRAG (and I would get another letter). I didn't know wtf that was :)
 
Phone the DWP, write to Atos and his MP and they'll more than likely back off.

Edit: Atos are unlikely to respond, the DWP will come out with 'some "error" in the system', blah, blah, blah, but his MP will have to respond.

The problem is that it's well outside of my professional remit, and a breach of my client's confidentiality (but it's the professional boundary thing that's the main problem).

This isn't the only client this has happened to, and it is clear to me from everything I read that this is SOP for ATOS/DWP - so many stories of people winning appeals then getting hit with reassessments.

ETA: I've written to the MP twice on similar matters, and all I got the first time was some anodyne bollocks about "helping people off benefits".

The only thing I think that would cut the mustard now would be a well-publicised toe-to-toe, preferably on live media. I'd be up for it - Simon "gosh, it's dark up here Dave" Hart probably wouldn't.
 
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