that the Dispatches programme scheduled for Monday shows that ATOS assessors have been told to keep disability benefit approvals low.
Apparently a GP applied for job with ATOS as a Health Care Professional who carries out the capability for work assessments and secretly filmed his training
"Undercover filming shows Bick being told by his trainer that he will be watched carefully over the number of applicants he found eligible for the highest rate of disability payments."
"The trainer tells trainee assessors: "If it's more than I think 12% or 13%, you will be fed back 'your rate is too high.'" When Bick questioned how the company could know in advance the precise proportion of people who needed to be put in this category, the trainer replied: "How do we know? I don't know who set the criteria but that's what we are being told."
Bick asked: "So if we put 20% in, we would get picked up on?". He was told by the trainer that, in that scenario, his cases would be reviewed."
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15 Replies
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Why am I not surprised, everybody blames ATOS, but they get their instructions from somewhere! Government! It is a scandal. Maybe its time for Human rights to step in.
this is unreal and someone needs to do something about it. if you qualify for the highe rate then you should be awarded it. it makes my blood boil. do they think you like being ill/disabled ? i cant wait to watch it - what channel and time is this on please.
So I went through hell at a tribunal because I didn't make that 12%. I'm totally disgusted to hear this, the way in which I was spoken to was terrible, I came out in tears. My representative was an ex solicitor and had never heard the like of it before. Needless to say I wasn't told until 2 weeks later I was turned down. I don't know how bad I have to be, I'm like a prisoner in my home because of fibromyalgia, PTSD and a dew other problems. Let's hope after this programme that I anf all of you get what we're entitled to. Good luck!!
Thanks very much for posting this Lima. I don't read newspapers so might have missed it otherwise. As you say, it's no surprise. I got hold of a training manual which also proved shocking and obviously it has gotten worse. With TV news currently 90% Olympics it probably wouldn't have been reported prior to it airing.
I will check in on that site again to see if the guy has managed to get hold of anything more from his 'mole' and post a link to it.
There's another programme about the assessments on BBC2 Panorama straight afterwards at 8.30pm - my V+ has been set to record ever since found about them being on! bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lldrc
This is awful, I shall be setting the Tivo to record for me. We appear to be back to the government deciding to deliberately turning people down - doesn't matter how badly you are affected. Marvellous eh?
It is no wonder that family and society treat us so badly when our Government has nothing but contempt for us.
I recall as a Civil Service manager being told to decide the grade of my staffs competence in line with a graph already made, so it would fit in with pay increases they had already decided. This would have meant one person getting a grade of "not good enough" and therefore missing the years pay increase.
They did not get away with it then (16 years ago) but it seems they kept pecking away at different departments/bring in private contractors until they found enough managers to agree to their corruption. So desperately sad
Fibro = pain stress = pain ESA = pain DLA = pain. Grrrrr =pain
Sorry this is going to be a long one, but it's just to show you all what they can, and do, do!!
I was fortunate enough to get my DLA on the 2nd attempt, before it got so tough, but expect any time to be called to be assessed again, even though I was supposedly granted it 'For Life'.
But 9 years ago my dear husband had a massive heart attack January 12th, within hours he went into cardiac shock, where all his organs were shutting down, he was critical for 3 weeks! In April he had a quadruple by-pass, needn't have bothered, he struggled for 9 months with severe heart failure, he was on a very strict fluid restriction at the worst he was only allowed 1/2 litre a day, that was through a warm summer! We had to measure every day how much went in, and out! . He got a massive infection in his chest wound, eventually got that cleared up, then cellulitis in his leg where they harvested the vein for the bypass. He went from April to the middle of September with that leg bandaged, even at one stage had colostomy bags attached to collect the amount of fluid that was leaking out. If he wasn't in hospital, which he was a lot of that 9 months, he slept on a folding bed downstairs, with me on the sofa along side him. He went up to bed 3 times while ill, that was with our adult son there to go behind him, and more or less push him up,and prevent him falling backwards. He was unable to go from our front door to the end of the drive, about 2 car lengths, he was on oxygen a lot of the time. We waited until July time to see if the bypass made any difference, but no, all it succeeded in doing was more damage to his kidneys as they shut down after the surgery, instead of about 5 days in hospital as even people in their 70's and one in his 80's was, Ken was in for 2 1/2 weeks until everything settled down again. He went from nothing up to 30 odd tablets a day!
Then we applied for DLA for him, we knew with that we could keep our house, without it we couldn't! All my DH wanted to do was get back to work, as a workshop technician at a school, after serving in the Royal Air Force for 25 years. So not a shirker, he worked for his living! Eventually we had a home visit from a Dr!!! I could have punched his living daylights out!! He had Ken bending, stretching up, standing on one foot, you f******n (sorry) name it!! Several times I had to steady him from falling, and he was NOT putting any of it on what ever. Guess what ------- he was refused everything! He had a nurse used to come to the house regularly, 'Heart failure specialist nurse', when we told her, she was livid, she said we would get the benefilt, she would see to it. (Of course if he got DLA, I could get carer's allowance as well, even though I was on DLA myself, and I did care for him, he couldn't even wash and dress himself! So we awaited the result of the appeal, at the same time we weren't aware of what the nurse had done, (this was August by now), she had applied for him under the special rules, (to be expected to have no longer than 6 months left to live). They refused the appeal, and refused under the special rules!
The nurse was furious, she was qualified to sign the forms on his behalf, but she said so it couldn't be argued, she got Ken's cardiac consultant to sign the forms! He had a defibrillator pacemaker fitted in September, his kidneys shut down again, and he was in hospital nigh on 2 weeks instead of the hoped for 2-3 days. I phoned the DLA and asked why he'd been refused again, to be told under the special rules, you've to be expected to have no longer than 6 months left to live. Literally over his death bed, on the day he died, Anne, (the nurse) told Ken, not to worry about me, I'd get every penny I deserved, they'd all make sure of that. The love of my life died 9th October after 27 1/2 years of marriage, a little over 28 years together, he was 50, I was 46. The following day in a state of utter shock, (even though we knew it was inevitable, it is still always a shock), I rang DLA office again, and asked why he hadn't qualified for payment under the special rules, she said I'd already had an explanation, I replied yes sorry, I couldn't remember what I'd been told. Again was told, no longer than 6 months left to live, so (don't really know how, only the shock, so I wasn't really thinking) I said, "Oh right, well I almost rang you up yesterday and asked if you all wanted to come to watch him die"! Of course her attitude changed immediately, oh I am sorry and all that tripe! I said, Well it's too late now isn't it!! They sent me forms out again to claim, but they deducted DLA and carers allowance for every single day he'd spent in hospital! So I actually ended up with about half of what I would have had!
Incidentally at the same time Ken was refused, a guy who the following year did decorating for me, a large open plan living room, stairs and landing, was granted top rate care and mobility! Where is the sense, reasoning, or justice in that? I'm afraid you've just usually struck lucky with the Dr if you do manage to get it, particularly on your first claim
I've just been checking my Twitter account & it looks as though there may well be a Spartacus campaign starting next week coming on the back of the 2 TV programmes. Not sure what is entailed yet but will let folks know as soon as I do.
Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions
People suffering proven chronic pain would find it difficult to work on many levels. Pain, lack of sleep, aggression, tiredness due to pain killers, mobility.
This group should be put in the support group when being evaluated for ESA."
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Why can't I snap out of it?
ATOS Visit and PIP help 
I really don't understand why i am in so much pain
Well I got it, the form to see if I am fit for work.
another victim of ATOS
