Barton Hill Advisory Service had very good (and free) guides to incapacity and DLA. Mind you, that site's not been up for ages. Shame. I've gotta say, the idea of benefitsandwork charging doesn't really sit right with me either.
Dispatches & Panorama programmes on ATOS disability assessments (30/7)
- Thread starter BigTom
- Start date
Barton Hill Advisory Service had very good (and free) guides to incapacity and DLA. Mind you, that site's not been up for ages. Shame. I've gotta say, the idea of benefitsandwork charging doesn't really sit right with me either.
Stop and Review the cuts to benefits" - Pat's petition. Please sign, numbers already going up tonight.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
They have information to help people in desperate circumstances and yet they want to charge you for it. You can't see anything wrong in that?
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
What's this? A site with guides on assessment criteria and so forth?
One that charges £20 for the information?
You'll want to speak to VP - he'll have more free time than me tomorrow. BTW it's not kindness, it's solidarity.
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
It's bloody desperate that they charge. Desperate and sad. Bloody hellfire.
Agreed, but accessing and using their material vastly improved the last DLA claim, and helped VP fill in his dad's Attendance Allowance form more than just relying on the Disability Rights Handbook (which reminds me, I need to order the new one) did.
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
People should have the information freely available; it's not supposed to be a test of wits.
I am glad that people on urbnsa share that information,I've just seen the ATOS medical assessment thread, it's good to have that support and advice.
People shouldn't be profiting off it though, that's a bit shit.
I was going to say that it puts others who don't have access to it at a disadvantage but then I reckon everybody gets theshitty end of the stick anyway.
I am glad that people on urbnsa share that information,I've just seen the ATOS medical assessment thread, it's good to have that support and advice.
People shouldn't be profiting off it though, that's a bit shit.
I was going to say that it puts others who don't have access to it at a disadvantage but then I reckon everybody gets theshitty end of the stick anyway.
FWIW the DRH is in most libraries, but you have to be mobile enough to get there. CAB is free but you have to be mobile enough to get there. If you can't use public transport, shelling out for your own copy and one annual subscription can be cheaper than the minicab fares.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
It's sad, but blame the DWP for coming up with a 600 question DLA claim form which you can't fill in adequately without legal advice. How do you expect lawyers and their staff to work for nothing? They're working full time to keep up with all the changes to the rules and the tricks that ATOS get up to. They can't just publish the info they know of and then stop and go off and do paid work. They have to keep the site up to date. It's a colossal amount of research and they provide amazing detail on how to answer all the questions. If you had read their 'About Us' page you would know why they're not funded by councils or the government or charity. How do you expect them to live?
'Black Triangle Campaign
WORK and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling’s contribution to tonight’s BBC Panorama programme, in which he catagorically states that there are no intrinsic or extrinsic targets in the DWP /ATOS Work Capability Assessment (WCA) regime, shows him to be either a liar or not in possessions of the facts.
Dispatches’ excellent contribution this evening systematically discredits his claims showing, beyond reasonable doubt, that there are indeed internal targets of 12% .
Black Triangle, along with many other Disabled Peoples Organisations, join with the BMA in demanding an end to the WCA ‘with immediate effect’.
We call for the immediate resignation of Chris Grayling.
Neither he, nor the WCA is “fit for purpose.”
Dr. Stephen M. Carty MB ChB MRCGP DRCOG
Member and Medical Adviser, Black Triangle Campaign.'
We need more outspoken doctors like this one,
WORK and Pensions Secretary Chris Grayling’s contribution to tonight’s BBC Panorama programme, in which he catagorically states that there are no intrinsic or extrinsic targets in the DWP /ATOS Work Capability Assessment (WCA) regime, shows him to be either a liar or not in possessions of the facts.
Dispatches’ excellent contribution this evening systematically discredits his claims showing, beyond reasonable doubt, that there are indeed internal targets of 12% .
Black Triangle, along with many other Disabled Peoples Organisations, join with the BMA in demanding an end to the WCA ‘with immediate effect’.
We call for the immediate resignation of Chris Grayling.
Neither he, nor the WCA is “fit for purpose.”
Dr. Stephen M. Carty MB ChB MRCGP DRCOG
Member and Medical Adviser, Black Triangle Campaign.'
We need more outspoken doctors like this one,
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
The politicians have deliberately made it into a test of wits. They've constructed this maze that even a healthy, intelligent, motivated person would struggle to get through. And it's getting worse and worse every year. The suicide rate is going to shoot up, and the politicians will just shrug their shoulders. There are some good free advisers funded by central govt/councils/charity who can help individual claimants but their funding is being cut and they have to focus on the most in need, i.e. people with poor literacy or too disabled to write.
I feel the benefitsandwork people are doing a fantastic job of protecting vulnerable people from the state and the recession. They have lots of subscribers who say the service has made a huge difference. If you want to use their info without paying, have a read of the free areas of their site and PM me or one of the other subscribers your email address and we can send you the pdfs you want. Here's a summary. Maybe when you can afford to you'll subscribe if you want to. They're a limited company so you could always get their accounts from companies house and decide whether they are profiteers.
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
i'MA SUBSCRIBER
Minnie_the_Minx
someinenhhanding menbag and me ah bollox
I agree. For under £20, if it helps you fill in the form correctly, it's worth it, and these are lengthy guides (ie. the mental health one alone is over 80 pages)
Grayling's got the fucking cheek to claim that "Reforming incapacity benefits is all about saving lives"?
Jesus fucking Christ on a Honda 125, just how murderously-deluded is this turd in human form?
Well there's your "Compassionate Conservatism" in a nutshell. Force sick and disabled claimants to attend a (less than) half hour computerised, dumbed down and stressful assessment for sometimes complex ailments by barely qualified
Jesus Christ himself would be impressed with the miracles and compassion shown by the current
Signed it, months ago, but if anyone hasn't got around to it, please do.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
Just watched both back to back. 
Two words stood out. Toxic & Despicable.
Two words stood out. Toxic & Despicable.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
I just finished the panorama one, interesting that Paul Gregg who designed the wrag or work programme (or both) was critical of how the wca is working out in practice to support disabled people into work or whatever sickening phrase he uses.
Surely reform must be on the way for the wca (if not for the whole concept/ideology it is produced by) if the architects of it are backing away from it.
Surely reform must be on the way for the wca (if not for the whole concept/ideology it is produced by) if the architects of it are backing away from it.
At work last night it was all mentioned in a copy of the Daily Star (lol) I picked up in the canteen, saying that it's a load of bollocks but only because of the way it is set up, to catch people who are faking layabouts anyway, is flawed and a drain on taxpayers' money. Obligatory quote from someone in the Tax Avoiders' Alliance.
Libertad
Sparking up a rollie in the Reichstag
Your optimism is to be admired Tom. Let's not hold our breath eh?
hardly anything in the media about the programmes and the killer fact, there are targets, the BBC news usually has a package on that nights edition on Panorama, i may have missed it but i don't recall one for this, i wonder why?
Nothing on Newsnight either, they really don't want to change the narrative do they?
Nothing on Newsnight either, they really don't want to change the narrative do they?
they have just got rid of Harrington, who was no friend of claimants and will want an even more pliant adviser, there are rumours there will be no appeal for Universal Credit, etc..
Christ.
Hay et al.* identify there to be 287,000 problem opiate and 198,000 problem crack cocaine users (2006:2)
And that's not including people who're alcohol dependent!
Is the Express seriously claiming that well in excess of half a million drug and alcohol dependent people are fit to work?
Seriously?
*Hay G, Gannon M, MacDougall J, Millar T, Eastwood C and McKeganey N (2006) National and Regional Estimates of the Prevalence of Opiate Use and / or Crack Cocaine Use 2005/06: A Summary of Key Findings. Home Office Online Report 21/07
Frankie Jack
Not a bloke..
Yep Mrs Q. Plans afoot to strip them of benefits if they don't go into rehab progs. There are just soo many rehab progs available a ain't there. No doubt a whole new opportunity for the usual gubmnt contracting suspects. A4emma drying out clinic anyone?
No need for A4e.
Drug misuse already has a wealth of large, corporate organisations who've become experts in contract tendering over the last 10yrs.
As an aside, the only proposals I'd seen along those lines were suggesting that people could be compelled to attend one appointment at a drug service, for information and / or advice.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Frankie Jack
Not a bloke..
I've a feeling they may be looking at some kind of 'conditionality' * I hate that word* for those with addictions when the Universal Credit comes in. Given they seem to be making it all up as they go along I'm not certain at all what the blerts are up to to be honest.
Perhaps once addicts are placed in the WRAG it'll be up to their WP to make sure they meet the terms of their agreement/conditionality.
Who knows what's going on with the 'black box' approach 'tween gubmnt and WPs
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
B & W isn't a business, and the main annual subscription is pretty much to cover the large amount of bandwidth the website and forums there consume. I don't begrudge the subscription purely because I get my moneys'-worth out of it.
Personally, I also e-mail copies of B & W's benefits guides to anyone who can't afford the subscription, but need the info.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
As an annual subscription. As I've just says to FL, their website and forums consume a lot of bandwidth, and the subscription (which has always been about the same as long as I've subscribed) pays for that, for the many legal opinions B & W get on their guides before publishing them, and for professional research when needed.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Just to point out, B & W isn't run for profit, it's one DLA claimant working full-time from home, and hiring in professional assistance as and when, and to be fair, he's done a shedload more to uncover stuff like the various handbooks and guides used by assessors than the mainstream disability orgs.
Similar threads
