Ding Dong! Thatcher’s Dead!

“There is no such thing as society.” Thatcher, 1988
“There is no such thing as Thatcher.” Society, 2013

Some Petitions – Please Sign

Via Wowpetition.com on Twitter:

“Thanks for following us and already signing Francesca Martinez’s epetitionhttp://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154

We have a NEW THUNDERCLAP which we are very keen that you authorize on twitter by clicking “Support” here: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/1066-wowpetition-com This enables the site to trigger an automatic 500-strong tweet on 31st January. It only works if we get 500 people by then though. We need to let Government know – we aren’t going away.”

There is an upcoming Panorama documentary on Monday 28th January at 20:30http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qgk9h dealing with the companies who have been paid billions by Government to find Disabled and Sick people work.
We ask that you are ready on internet forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc to apprise newly concerned people of WOWpetition.com during and after during media coverage of the programme. This is so important that people know there is a place they can express their concerns about the situation.

We also ask that you continue to sign other petitions:

Lynn’s #SignSaveLives Petition to exclude people with severe mental health sufferers from DLA assessments epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35092

Sometimes we need to amplify people’s individual experiences and concerns about Welfare Reform. It is not just about principle, but because of SPECIFIC reasons and cases that the WCAs are problematic.

“Stop the intrusive black and white ATOS medical questioning for survivors of assault”
@ohdearyme has a petition asking for better support and facilites for victims/survivors of abuse/sexual abuse http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44718 More info http://ohdearyme.com/

Set up after WWII for injured veterans to find work, Remploy was the UK’s biggest employer of Disabled People until the Coalition tore it asunder and put great numbers of Disabled People out of work.
Save Remploy Factories saveremployfactories.co.uk and Innovate to Stop Closurehttp://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31056 #saveremploy

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant”

We know we ask a lot, but we believe that the petition system is growing all the time and more of a difference can be made. Make Government listen by continuing to raise awareness of these issues. The tide is turning.”

I’m using this image in forum signatures to link to this page – feel free to download it for your own use.

Related articles

• The #wowpetition – Please Sign! (neitshade.wordpress.com)
• #WowPetition – Please Keep It Going! (neitshade.wordpress.com)

How Not to Write a Letter

A Postscript to my previous post:

The name that I failed to catch when watching Question Time last Thursday was Brian  McArdle. He died the day after getting a letter telling him he’d lost his benefits and been declared fit for work by Atos.

His son, Kieran, had written to Iain Duncan Smith to complain that his Brian had been “hounded to death” by Atos and the DWP. Whether you think that’s a fair assessment or not, it came from a grieving son, and deserved a compassionate reply.

Letters of condolence can be particularly difficult for politicians, as they are often widely scrutinised, as Gordon Brown found out  after he wrote to the mother of a soldier, Guardsman Jamie Janes, who had been killed in Afghanistan. The then Prime Minister had spelled the soldier’s name incorrectly, in a handwritten letter. It is easy to see how such a mistake could be made, and he had, at least, taken the trouble to write the letter himself. When the row erupted, Brown admitted that his handwriting wasn’t great, another complaint about his letter being that it had been “hastily scrawled”, and apologised to Jacqui Janes for that, and for the spelling mistake, by telephone.

So we come to IDS’s reply to Kieran McArdle. It doesn’t start too badly, with condolences offered, but quickly turns to government spin which, in my view, is entirely inappropriate and unsympathetic.

“I was very sorry to read of your father’s death. I offer my sincere condolences to you and your family at this time.

“I know nothing I can say will do anything to ease the pain of losing your father, but I’d like to explain why the Government’s reforms to the sickness benefits system are so important and how much work we’re doing to make the process as fair as possible.

“I know this will be a difficult time for you and I’m grateful this was brought to my attention.”

In fact, I cannot detect any genuine sympathy in those words, and I get the impression IDS only sent it because he’d been embarrassed into doing so by a Daily Record campaign.

Here’s the end of the letter, courtesy of the Daily Record:

As you can see, it isn’t handwritten, and I’m not even sure that Smith signed it himself, the signature is so illegible. If he did, the carelessness of that signature is surely indicative of his disdain for the person receiving the letter.

Related articles

• Tory hatchet man Iain Duncan Smith’s weasel-worded letter to boy who said Atos test killed dad (dailyrecord.co.uk)
• Why The “Quiet Man” Should Stay Quiet (neitshade.wordpress.com)
• Stuffed shirt Iain Duncan Smith fails to show ounce of compassion (dailyrecord.co.uk)

Atos Fraud

 

When Atos tendered their bid for the contract to assess disabled people for the forthcoming “Personal Independence Payment”, which is to replace disability living allowance, they claimed they would be working closely with disabled people’s organisations. The organisations they named, including Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People, Disability Cornwall and ecdp, say they know nothing of this.

As this claim was instrumental in Atos’s success in winning the bid, worth £540 million, it represents an enormous fraud. That figure, by the way, is greater than the DWP’s own estimate of disability benefit fraud.

Atos have claimed that they made a mistake.If claimants makes mistakes, they  will be penalised.

What’s the betting we’ll see a double standard here, with Cameron & co standing up for their rich buddies, while disabled people continue to suffer and die at Atos’s hands?

 

Source: click here.

Related articles

• ‘Atos forced me to crawl on the floor in tears’ (socialistworker.co.uk)

 

The Corporate Olympics

I’ve never been much of a sports fan, but I’ve always taken at least a passing interest in the Olympic Games. I’m already sick and tired of the upcoming London Olympics, however. Whether it’s a story of LOCOG pettiness, such as making a butcher remove a display of sausages arranged in the form of the Olympic rings, or the sponsorship of the Paralympics by the scourge of disabled people, Atos, these games seem to be all about corporate interests, and no business of the hoi polloi, in sharp contrast to the first Olympic games I remember seeing, Mexico ’68.

Stories are even emerging of people being evicted from their rented homes, to make way for visitors who will pay exorbitant rents. While this isn’t the fault of LOCOG, it fits well with what appears to be the New Olympic Ethos – cash in wherever you can.

I expect I’ll be watching a lot of DVDs this summer, possibly while eating Burger King burgers, washed down with Pepsi cola.

Related articles

• Twitter suspends account for using London 2012 Olympics logo (guardian.co.uk)
• Space Hijackers create Official Protesters programme for the London 2012 Olympics (boingboing.net)
• Twitter suspends Olympics protestors’ account (telegraph.co.uk)
• Olympic protesters suspended from Twitter over trademark violation (wired.co.uk)
• Behold the London Olympics’ Creepy ‘Brand Exclusion Zone’ [Olympics] (gawker.com)
• Olympic organisers shut down “Space hijackers” protest Twitter account (indexoncensorship.org)
• Hotel prices remain high for the Olympics, despite LOCOG’s release of 120,000 hotel rooms (onefinestay.com)

 

(The following picture will probably confuse most people, unless you’re in a certain age range!)

BMA to ballot on Work Capability Assessments

Shamelessly stolen from Social Welfare Union on Twitter:

BREAKING !!! BMA to ballot on Work Capability Assessments !!! #WCA #Atos #DWP

103 HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT: That conference, in respect of work capability assessments (WCA) as performed
by ATOS Healthcare, believes that the:
(i) inadequate computer based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons
(ii) WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause
avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

103a SCOTTISH CONFERENCE OF LMCs: That conference, in respect of work capability assessments (WCA) as performed
by ATOS Healthcare, believes that:
(i) the inadequate computer based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons
(ii) the WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not
cause avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

The GMC will be forced to institute a full investigation and under an obligation to take action to halt the assessments by revoking “Approved Medical Status” to testing centres. The motions were submitted by the Scottish LMC Conference and Hampshire and Isle of Wight LMC. Motions 103 & 103a can be viewed here:

http://www.bma.org.uk/images/lmcconfagenda2012_tcm41-212632.pdf

I wonder if the BBC will report this.

Update!  (again from Social Welfare Union)

The Social Welfare Union, together with our partners, are very pleased to announce that the United Kingdom Local Medical Committees Conference of the British Medical Association (BMA) has voted today to carry the following motion in relation to Atos Healthcare conducted Work Capability Assessments:

103 HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT & 103a SCOTTISH CONFERENCE OF LMCs

That conference, in respect of work capability assessments (WCA) as performed by ATOS Healthcare, believes that the:

(i) inadequate computer based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons

(ii) WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

The motion was carried UNANIMOUSLY.

Related articles

• Scottish Gp`s call for WCA Axe (ffeirio.wordpress.com)
• BMA to Ballot on Work Capability Assessments (socialwelfareunion.wordpress.com)

BBC News – Atos Approved?

It has become a tradition in Britain for political parties to accuse the BBC of bias whenever they are put under the pressure of scrutiny. It rarely turns out to be true, if ever, but today I, and many other people, noticed something that seems to give the idea some credibility.
It was a story about a protest in London against welfare cuts for disabled people. The Guardian’s website had the headline “Disability rights protesters bring Trafalgar Square traffic to a standstill“.

It would be inconceivable that the Beeb wouldn’t cover the story, wouldn’t it? Surely they’d lead with it, since it was in the capital. If a sparrow farts in London, it’s a more important story than anything that happens elsewhere.

I watched the BBC news, and I searched the BBC news website. Not a whisper.

Could it be that the BBC’s IT partners would be upset if the story broke? They are the ones who are being paid exorbitant amounts of money to make those welfare cuts, after all.

Edit: Thanks to the commenter “IfIMay” for the link to the BBC’s NewsWatch. If you feel strongly about this issue, please add your voice. Try and be polite though, as difficult as that may be!

Related articles

• The BBC in bed with Atos ” Unbiassed BBC, like F### they are”… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Atos sponsoring the Paralympics is a sickening insult. #ATOS (sw9red.wordpress.com)
• Disability rights protesters bring Trafalgar Square traffic to a standstill (guardian.co.uk)
• A Tale of two Models: Disabled People vs Unum, Atos, Government and Disability Charities ebbie Jolly (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• DWP Guidelines on Benefit-Cut Related Suicides? (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• “Atos Origin come on down” or is it too warm in here for you?…. (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)

Sinister Goings-on at Atos

As if the activities of Atos “Healthcare” weren’t sinister enough, it now emerges that the company demands that all its employees sign the Official Secrets Act.
Doctors and nurses, who are already bound by a confidentiality code, that would see them struck off if they broke it, are being forced to sign the OSA, even though their work isn’t covered by the act.
It’s true that some parts of the company deal with defence contracts, but they are completely separate from the work capability assessments that are so controversial that, I am sure, the company will do all it can to prevent criticism. Including bullying its employees.
It is telling that even the Department for Work and Pensions was unaware of this draconian practice.
Makes me wonder what else Atos has to hide.

Related articles

• Exclusive leak: Atos forces doctors to sign Official Secrets Act (liberalconspiracy.org)
• A Tale of two Models: Disabled People vs Unum, Atos, Government and Disability Charities ebbie Jolly (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• The BBC in bed with Atos ” Unbiassed BBC, like F### they are”… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Exclusive leak: Atos forces doctors to sign Official Secrets Act… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)

Atos Ahoy!

To the list of undesirable attributes displayed by Atos, such as incompetence, heartlessness and arrogance, we can now add dishonesty.

I’ve read many accounts of work assessments being carried out by people who have a very tenuous grasp of honesty, but the Advertising Standards Authority’s latest findings speak to a corporate disdain for the truth.

The parts of the ad in contention were

“Each year Atos Healthcare process over 1.2 million referrals for medical advice completing over 800,000 face-to-face medical assessments”  and  ”our 1700+ healthcare professionals“

The ASA upheld the complaint and said that the ad must not appear again in its current form.

That was on the 4th of April and yet, today, the 8th of April, I visited the Atos website, and took this screenshot:

You should be able to see the detail if you click on the image, but in case you can’t, here’s a close-up of the relevant part:

They’ve not changed a single word.

EDIT TO ADD: Still no change, as of 19th April.

That the advertisement was misleading is bad enough, but Atos compounded the aforementioned arrogance by not even bothering to respond to the ASA, which was itself a breach of the  Committee of Advertising Practice code.

The DWP need to address this issue too, and a FOI request has been made.

Related articles

• The BBC in bed with Atos ” Unbiassed BBC, like F### they are”… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Atos disregard ASA Over complaint – Atos are a law unto themselves… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Oh no – Atos are in the S### again…. (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• You think ATOS are bad, wait until Serco get a hold of you (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Atos & Unum dont like the truth… (victimsofatoscorruption.wordpress.com)
• Atos Gets Their Knuckles Rapped

“Are There No Prisons, Are There No Workhouses?”

I’ve written before of the abomination that is ATOS, but the best summary of the situation I found at RatSkep, written by a member known as “chairman bill”, whose permission I have to reproduce his post here in its entirety.

Our wonderful UK government, a chimera of a beast, born of an alliance between the Nazty Party of Great Britain (aka ‘the Conservatives’), and what appears to be a pretty spineless version of the Liberal Democrats, in these times of financial crisis, have declared that ‘We’re all in it together’, and that changes & cut-backs they make are ‘Fair’. Well they’re not. The ConDems are a bunch of lying, deceitful little shysters, with a particular penchant for kicking disabled people. And in this they are proudly assisted by the Daily Mail, the Express & the Sun (aka The Hate Mail, The Vexpress & The Scum), regularly featuring made-up stories (aka ‘lies) about disabled people. The Daily Fascist/Hate Mail in particular, has published a number of stories, designed to paint a picture of disabled people as benefit scroungers, and as benefit frauds. There have even been claims of fraud running at a level of 75%, whereas the true figure from the Dept. of Work & Pensions is one of less than 0.5%, with a high in 2009 of 1.3%.

This bunch of bastards (aka ‘government), who promised to protect the vulnerable, have already cut the Independent Living Fund – it no longer exists. This was a benefit paid to the most disabled people in our society, to enable them to live as near a normal life as possible. It’s gone. Next for the ConDem axe is the Disability Living Allowance. Ministers are appalled that the numbers claiming it are rising. Well, no shit, Sherlock, we’re getting new disabled people every fucking day! Given that it has no relation to work (it’s not an unemployment benefit), people who retire still get it, and children get it, and given that most disabling conditions are for life, once they start getting, most keep getting it. God hasn’t started curing amputees yet, and Afghanistan is ensuring a steady supply of new ones. And this benefit is tested, strictly, and regularly retested unless you get a lifetime award (see amputees for example).

Well, now the government want to cut DLA & introduce something called Personal Independence Payments. These are set to exclude 20% of those receiving DLA. Not because those people don’t need those payments, but seemingly because ‘we’re all in it together’. Part of DLA includes Mobility Allowance, paid only to those who really struggle to get about. Criteria are strict, and if you can walk, with sticks or Zimmer frame, more than 50 metres, you don’t qualify. Well, the ConDems want to cut this allowance for anyone in residential care. Which will mean these people will no longer have the money to take them home to visit family, or to go shopping, or simply to get out & about. But it’s fair & we’re all in this together. Bastards! And to add to this, the ConDems are making changes to the Tax Credit system that will cost families of disabled children some £1400 a year. But that’s fair, ‘cos that nice Mr Cameron says so, and that nice Mr Clegg hasn’t demurred.

And we’re to get cuts to disabled people’s housing benefits. Young people are expected to live in ‘multi-occupancy accommodation’, and will be penalised for having a spare bedroom. Leave aside the facts that many will have a need to store equipment (ventilators, wheelchairs and the like, or be unable to share a bed with a partner, so needing that spare room, if you’re disabled, you can’t get payments if your house is too big. The National Housing Federation reckon some 108,000 disabled people could be forced out of their homes. But that’s fair, and they’re all in it together. Er …

To the shame of the Labour Party, the last government brought in a new Employment and Support Allowance to replace Incapacity Benefit. It introduced a Work Capability Assessment, and the contract went to a private company called ATOS. I know some people who’ve had the misfortune of attending an ATOS assessment. No disabled parking & the centre wasn’t wheelchair-accessible (which is illegal for public service buildings). Of the ATOS rulings that reduce benefits, 1 in 8 are overturned on appeal. The rest get moved on to Job Seekers Allowance, yet in many cases the Job Centres acknowledge that they’ll never find work for these people. The ConDems have failed to repeal or amend this awful system, and have instead made the tests harder to pass. There have been a number of suicides linked specifically to the Work Capability Assessment, it is that traumatic for people. I know of someone who had to attend one of these with her daughter. Her daughter has Down’s Syndrome. The ATOS assessors asked why she couldn’t work. Her mother indicated that she had a learning disability associated with her Down’s Syndrome, and a heart defect (a common congenital condition in people with Down’s). But, she could walk, so the assessors weren’t convinced that she couldn’t work. She won her appeal, but it was a traumatic time for all concerned. Still, it’s fair, and they’re all in it together.

And the ConDems plan to make things even worse. Some people stand to lose all benefits, if they have resources of a certain level. Well, as a point of fact, if anyone in their household has such resources, such as a pension fund they could dip into. And the level of resources that could lead to benefit cuts, is below the level of the minimum wage. Which is no doubt fair. The government’s own figures indicated some 700,000 people who are too disabled to work, will be affected by these changes, and 400,000 will have to rely entirely on savings, pensions, or the incomes of partners.

And now, the piece de resistance, the Welfare Reform Bill. The ConDems have sent this bill through Grand Committee, where a single vote can scupper an amendment – read more about this disgraceful move here

So, the purpose of this thread -

Pat Onion’s petition to stop & review the cuts to benefits here,

Anthony Dean’s petition to make it a criminal offence to maliciously report someone for benefit fraud (DWP figures show that 96% of referrals the National Benefit Fraud Hotline are malicious or time-wasting) here,

and Calum Wiley’s petition to save the Independent Living Fund here - please, if you’re not a heartless Tory bastard, follow the links & sign the petitions.

The only thing I can think of to add to that is in connection with appeals. Even when successful, disabled people are having to go through the ordeal time and again, as ATOS seem very reluctant to accept judgements against them. They obviously regard vulnerable people as easy targets, and have no scruples about picking on them, knowing some of them will give up hope or, even better from ATOS’s point of view, die.