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Atos Medicals - Questions, Answers and Support

Well, I've just completed my ESA form, I'll get it posted off tomorrow. It's taken me nigh on a fortnight to get into the right frame of mind to tackle the fucker coz part of me's sure I'm going to get kicked off and as such I was thinking there's not much point even trying. Still, I can't fall at the first hurdle through nothing more than my own defeatism & I reckon I've made a fairly decent fist of it. I've got armache now with all that writing.

What's the difference between recorded and registered delivery, and do people think it's worth bothering with either or should I just trust the prepaid envelope? I've always sent PCA forms back in the envelope provided without any problems. I could take it to the jobcentre like I said a couple of pages back, but it's miles away - Further than the post office anyway.
 
Well worth it FL. Friend just posted hers and had letter from Atos the other day saying they'd not received it.. It's to be there by the 10th Sept and she's totally cllimbing the walls now and constantly phoning to see if they've 'found' it yet.
 
Oh, and be aware that in some London districts last posting times are pulled forward a couple of hours because of the fucking Olympics :mad:
 
Frankie Jack said:
Well worth it FL. Friend just posted hers and had letter from Atos the other day saying they'd not received it.. It's to be there by the 10th Sept and she's totally cllimbing the walls now and constantly phoning to see if they've 'found' it yet.
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Shit, not so good. Yeah, your right - It's worth £1.55 to not have to go through that. Thinking about it, it's not inconcievable that some unscrupulous ATOS employees might file a few forms in the bin to cut their workload - I've heard of this happening in the past with HB claims. Hope your mates form turns up - It's quite scary to think your whole life could be turned upside down through some clown not doing their job properly.

Cheers laptop, I'm nowhere near London though.
 
Mine asked a question at PMQ's about the DLA cuts, signed the EDM too, i was quite surprised at how many LP MP's have signed the very robust(its John McDonnell after all) EDM

btw Sue Marsh's blog 'diary of a benefit scrounger' is getting very very popular and influential, but its also now attracting the nasties, the haters, some are just sick in the head...

i would ban them, they contribute nothing...
 
There is a point where a civilisation can rise above the level of grubbing; where how much something costs, such as a system of social welfare, is less important than its value to and effect upon society - a chance for the poorest to attain social mobility while not having to worry about where those bills are coming from; a society where the poorest can live out long lives in as rude health as the wealthiest.And then you get the tipping point, where a society begins to degenerate. Where, rather than talk about ambitious plans for giving the whole of society a chance to do something with their lives, people become burdened with a false sense of entitlement and sit on their stoop and complain about other people having life better than them.

It's always the other man who's "workshy," "scrounger," "unfit mother," "Bolshy lazy sponger." It's always your taxes that are paying for the nice shoes on their feet, their nice haircut, the smile on their faces.And that bitterness seeps in and poisons everything. Compassion is a fool's dream; social programs warp in your perceptions into a grotesque parade of the poor supping at a trough of your precious money or literally leeching the life from your veins while you sleep at night.Day and night, that poison works its way into the brain - that addiction to self-righteous pompous middle-class Charles Pooter "Diary Of A Nobody" fury which looks about as dangerous as a penguin carrying a handgun.

The poison worms its way into the tabloids, which ooze with slimy politicians whose only ambition is to line their pockets, and whose only ticket - the one thing they want you to vote them in for - is that they can offer you, not an actual solution to your problems, but a continual supply of the indignant stuffed-shirt toxin that keeps you awake at your work.
That toxin that prompts you to talk about "everybody has a job, and those who can't get a job mustn't want one," and urges you to look about how much something costs you rather than how much it costs somebody else as well - or rather, to look at things such as social care in terms of "I don't need it, so why should I pay for it?" rather than "I'm only doing my bit at work for me and mine. This - taxes, NIC - is my way of doing my bit for my country and the people who live in it, and who might come home disabled from defending it. From defending me."

We're a degenerate nation. Gone to the dogs? Yeah. Only, we're the dogs. We're the mangy, scruffy mutts who've forgotten that we used to be as kings in this world. And you know what used to make us walk as kings? Pride in our twin greatest achievements - our NHS, and our welfare system. The two things that, together, served the nation more than any wars ever could.
We're not going back to a glorious past, with this nothing little Captain Mainwaring attitude of ours. We are, collectively and with our eyes wide open, going forwards towards a future as ruins, in ruins. And it all started the day the first shouty little man complained that compassion, ethics, altruism were playthings for fools. On the day that the first ambitious git of a nothing politician looking for a vote heard him, and offered him a Faustian deal.
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truly amazing blog post on that site, up there with Orwell in my mind...
 
Do they have copiers at libraries? I'm thinking I'd best get mine copied, but I dunno anyone who's got a copier nor how to use one. Proper ballache this is turning into.
 
treelover said:
<snip>

btw Sue Marsh's blog 'diary of a benefit scrounger' is getting very very popular and influential, but its also now attracting the nasties, the haters, some are just sick in the head...

i would ban them, they contribute nothing...
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Truth be told I can't be arsed with her these days for a few reasons. Just the other day she let rip at a severely disabled lass for being dissapointed at a group closing on farcebook. Couldn't tell you the last time I read the blog. Oh yeah.. it was the New Descriptors leaked by the DPOs... And the DPOs guest post as no one had c/p'd them.
 
A transcript of the ATOS debate:

Here is the Parliamentary transcript of the Atos Healthcare debate (which can be followed using hashtag #WCAdebate on Twitter) secured by Tom Greatrex MP earlier today. We wouldn't usually duplicate the whole transcript on Mylegal but this one is important and has been posted for ease of reference. It's very central to the argument for legal aid in the first - tier tribunals and I hope viewers find it of interest.


Atos Healthcare
11 am


Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op):

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Riordan.


I am pleased that the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Chris Grayling) is here. I am not sure whether this will be his valedictory performance in that role, but I saw pictures of him going into Downing street earlier, and if he has been promoted to the post of Secretary of State for Justice, I would like to be the first to congratulate him. I remind him, however, that in that post he will be responsible for the tribunals service, which deals with appeals relating to the work capability assessment, so he will not completely escape responsibility for some issues that will be raised this morning.


I am conscious of the number of people present for this debate, which highlights the fact that although hon. Members may be consumed by events in and around Downing street today, many people outside are concerned about aspects of the work capability assessment and employment support allowance. I am sure that hon. Members will want to reflect those views and with that in mind, I shall endeavour to be brief. I shall take only a few interventions, in order to allow more Members to contribute.


There are three points on which we probably all agree: first, there are benefits in working. I have seen many of my constituents—although it is harder to do so now than it was a few years ago—return to work after long periods of unemployment. As well as any material benefits, the positive impact on their health and well-being is obvious. We should all encourage as many people as possible to work and get back into work if they have not worked for some time. Secondly, as most of us would acknowledge, helping and supporting those who have not worked for a long time can be difficult and time-consuming. It needs to be done sensitively, so that people feel helped and not as though they are being punished. Thirdly, although not everybody completely accepts this point, many feel that an assessment for those who rely on sickness and disability benefit is useful and appropriate. That was the envisaged purpose of ESA: to support those who can work into work, as well as those who sadly will never be able to work again.


Six months ago, I was fortunate enough to secure a debate on this issue. At that time, the Minister confidently predicted that the performance and situation would massively improve and some changes that had been made had not yet fed through. Six months later, I suggest to the Minister that the number of people present today indicates that very real concerns and problems remain, many of which are sure to be reflected during the debate.


In our previous debate, I focused on the experiences of constituents who had undergone the assessment. I told the story of a constituent trapped in the system who went through an assessment, a successful appeal, a reassessment, followed by another successful appeal and then another reassessment. For too many people, that remains the experience across the country. The Minister and whoever his successor will be need to look carefully at that issue and address it. I have spoken with many constituents who would love to go out to work, but it is not possible to do so because they suffer from a disability or a chronic condition, and I am sure that many Members in the Chamber will want to speak up for such people.
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Continued on the site linked above.
 
So, with some caveats, the LP still supports the ESA and indeed the test..

did they mention the low levels of fraud, etc..
 
It needs to be done sensitively, so that people feel helped and not as though they are being punished. Thirdly, although not everybody completely accepts this point, many feel that an assessment for those who rely on sickness and disability benefit is useful and appropriate. That was the envisaged purpose of ESA: to support those who can work into work, as well as those who sadly will never be able to work again.
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its the nature of a bureaucracy like the DWP and now of course the private companies who have the profit motive, that the process can never be done sensitively and with empathy, even in the 'old days' you could be treated like dirt and lose benefits, though of course there have been and will be individuals who do display the qualities mentioned above..

btw, I have just read that ESA is only 4% of the total welfare budget, it's pensions that is the biggest element, how do they get away with conflating it all in the media, etc?
 
Because they couldn't be seen attacking the pensioners the way they do the sick, disabled and unemployed. Fraud and error is higher in Pension Credits too, but, that never gets mentioned.
Pensioners are the highest turnout voters at elections.
Single pensioners are going to get a set £140 a week that'll stop the need for pension credit confusion and give a fair amount that they need to live on *in their opinion*, yet, single people below 66 are expected to exist on half that or less.

Sad times, in this economy and political climate, when people are desperate to reach pensionable age to feel safe. I know I am and I've a fair way to go yet. :mad::(
 
Pensioners probably won't be safe forever - Not so long ago it would have been inconcievable to attack those too sick/disabled to work in the manner we're seeing now.
 
Well the Tories did moot them getting out and doing community work for their pensions didn't they. AND raising the qualifying age so loads of people will cop it before they cost too much.
 
I can well imagine in the not too distant future those who don't have some sort of private provision for old age being portrayed as feckless types expecting the state to pay for them in their dotage.

Although that is taking the thread off topic. Sorry.

Got the old form sent off recorded delivery anyway.
 
Because I'm useless and can't find it, can anyone point me toward the ATOS breakdown of points scored in the new(ish) ESA50 form, a friend wants me to go thru hers and the form is so very slightly changed from the one I filled in.
It's somewhere in this thread I know *goes off scrabbling*
 
yardbird said:
Because I'm useless and can't find it, can anyone point me toward the ATOS breakdown of points scored in the new(ish) ESA50 form, a friend wants me to go thru hers and the form is so very slightly changed from the one I filled in.
It's somewhere in this thread I know *goes off scrabbling*
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Is this the new one you mean Yardie..? *different link*

ETA. I get what you mean now.. sorry m'dear.. Brainfart day and can barely find my face at the moment. Best I wheesht really. :facepalm:
 
Yeah Frankie, that's the form, but this was with answers relative to points.
Like - Can't walk ten paces = 15 points
Sometimes = nil points
 
'This following statement I am writing in the hope that it may fall upon the person out there I need to help me in this dire situation…I am writing it for anyone to use, re-post (if you would? Thanks) and to anyone out there who might listen and help…We live in a country where we thankfully have the NHS, the benefit system, thank goodness that IS in place to help-but as they have cut off my benefits till some kind of proof of something or other is provided, I am now in a dire situation and unable to feed my children…The system is NOT working for me, but against me…Surely we’re the ones they are put in place for???

After my husband Alex Wood, suffered a severe brain injury on the 4th October 2011, my life, now nearly a year on becomes not easier, but ever more fearful and stressful.
After a few weeks now of insane trials, fighting against the benefits system, fighting for funding for Alex and my head spinning with where to go next, I am now writing this as I have to take this a step higher…

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/welfare-warnings-become-reality.html
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Appalling heartbreaking story of a mum of four whose husband is recovering from a brain injury and the nightmare she is facing..

there are going to be a lot more of these stories, 'genuine' claimants who are absolutely baffled and angry about how they are being treated...

the brave ones will go public like this, she should contact the Guardian, The Indie, and The Mirror..
 
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