10,600 sick & disabled people died last year within six weeks of their claim ending

@blacktriangle1

Subject: Incapacity Benefits: Deaths of recipients (July, 2012 statistical release) See:

http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf

10,600 sick & disabled people died last year within six weeks of their claim ending. This latest statistical release adds some information not covered in this article:

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I wish to point out that the DWP improperly responded to my request and did not provide mortality statistics on 2012 ESA claimants; see

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/j63qek

This information certainly must be available as the Department is supposed to be monitoring and modifying systems on a continual basis.

Best wishes.

Samuel Miller.

Samuel Miller

E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com

Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/

Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)

Documents and analysis of deaths.

Posted by Kessa Treedweller:

‘Allow me to introduce researcher John William Brown:

I’m beginning to understand the various figures I’ve been supplied with on the DPAC FB page and it is not simple – I WILL TRY RECAP – IN BRIEF – It is greater than one thinks!

Number of deaths for Jan. to Nov. 2011 = 10,600 – supplied by DWP via Atos from page 6 of following pdf
Those with Assessment not complete 2,200 (50.6 per week)
 
Those in Work Related Activity Group 1,300 (29.9 per week)
 
Those in Support Group 7,100 (153.6 per week)

Total number of deaths 10,600 (to nearest 100)

 
Jan to Nov inclusive is 11 months = 47.5 weeks
 
10,600 deaths divided by 47.5 weeks = 223.2 deaths per week
 
Total approximation in EACH group is 223.2 divide by 3
 
Approximation of deaths in each of 3 groups = 74.4 per week

 

1. It’s important to know how 73 (74.4) was sourced, and
 
2. That this number is an average within 3 different groups and
 
3. That the overall number of deaths is 223.3 per week

THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME AND I APOLOGIES IF THIS DISCUSSION CAUSED ANYONE ANY EMOTIONAL PAIN IN THE PROCESS… jwb

See also from Samuel Miller: 

United Kingdom Government Denounced for Crimes Against Disabled People to International Criminal Court in The Hague

Deaths and Suicides linked to WCA: more evidence needed for justice


33 thoughts on “10,600 sick & disabled people died last year within six weeks of their claim ending

  1. jed goodright says:

    It’s not just about ESA/WCA/DLA its about the infamous Blue Badge as well.I’ve had a Blue Badge for nearly 20 years followng repeated 3 yearly checks and assessment. Mine expired in September but I didn’t get a new assessment until October because my county council just couldn’t manage it. They have appointed (annointed) new independent assessors (from where I do not know) to act as intemediaries for the council and make assessment. I do not know how much of their assessment is taken into account. I do not know when I will get a resonse to my renewal application. Nobody knows anything but they are ‘very sorry’. In the meantime I have paid my £10 and got nothing for it. I do not know how long I will have to wait to hear a decision. I do not know how I or even if I can appeal. Meanwhile I cannot park in disabled spaces – you know, the ones designed especially for folk like me!

    They are are all truly bastards of the highest order. This is not a ‘helping service’ it is a denial service. The assesor told me that her role was independent so couldn’t answer any of my questions. She was replacing the role of GPs in making claims for Blue Badges. I have never known a GP apply for a Blue Badge for anyone – iin my experience they have had no role whatsoever. I have seen physios and othe medical staff for assessment. I have also worked in both health and social services so know from both my own and client perspectives. This system is bollox!!!!!

    1. Vee StJohn-Byles says:

      Spot on. I couldn’t agree more especially also having been on both ‘sides’ — as you also say.

    2. Rachel says:

      It used to be possible to get the medical form filled and signed by the GP. But as with sickness benefits GPs are no longer considered ‘professional’ enough to make an objective, informed and educated decision…

  2. jed goodright says:

    one final note

    it’s funny how they find the money to employ people (often of dubious qualification) to undertake these assessments form the same budgets that disabled people access – thereby immediately reducing the money available for those ‘they’ deem need the care and help ‘they’ set out to provide.

    they are still all bastards

  3. jeffery davies says:

    nazi who take disability rights away from you and have they employed atos for the blue badge scheme looking like they dont want to issue any jeff3

  4. phill says:

    Its about time the disabled pull out of the UK and set up our own town’s and villages all over the UK . i for one would sell up and move to one and help with setting up shelters gas/elec water .. i we are not wanted why should we live under the NORM rules ???

  5. Brig McLean says:

    Stop scaremongering on false data.

    7100 deaths were people in Support Group. Well, yes… they are the very sick and disabled! That is not news! That makes the whole 10,600 figure a stupid figure to bandy about!!!

    The shocking part is the sentence below your table on p6 of that document :

    “Data on the number of ESA claimants that have died following a fit for work decision is not available, as the Department does not hold information on a death if the person has already left benefit.

    The Department does not hold information on the number of claimants who died whilst an appeal was in progress. ”

    In other words, they don’t even bother to count the bodies!

    Surely this is what you should be hammering on about. Did you go to the IDS school of misusing statistics?!

    1. SuperNewf1 says:

      Sadly there are ten times that many. These are only statistics they show that are still under the system. Those that have been unjustly cut off benefits are no longer followed by them. In other words you have many at soup kitchens and food banks but many are too sick, too crippled to go. Many of us go hungry without medicine or food or heat and light. We are forced to accept charity from friends and family. Most of us could get back to work but all benefits have been cut off. We receive no medical or financial aid to get well and many become sicker and die awaiting appeals. You would have to add those on welfare who were denied their workers compensation benefits. Because the workers compensation boards say there is nothing wrong with the patient, all other agencies defer to their opinion. What makes it more tragic is these insurance companies already know the patient is totally disabled from employment. There is no doubt. The appeals are just a way to get rid of the claimant. It is causing our deaths. We suffer great pain from injuries and disease. We lose everything we worked for, including our self respect and ability to function in our family units or society. We are vilified, called frauds and malingerers AND IT IS NOT TRUE! We die from ABUSE! both mental and physical. God help the injured workers. Please.

  6. SuperNewf1 says:

    Everywhere in the Commonwealth the same thing happens. In Canada We have probably the most discriminatory legislation involving “injured workers”. While everyone believes Canadians enjoy a high level of health care there is one group excluded from the Canada Health Act. While touted as being inclusive of all Canadians, injured workers are discriminated against and excluded if they accept Workers Compensation Insurance. To add further discrimination each Province of Canada removes an injured workers legal rights. How can any seriously injured person get well and back to work at something if they are denied all benefits and actually become sicker because of the medical neglect? Welfare and charities only provide very basic needs and sometimes not even enough for food or heat and light. Good honest, decent, hardworking, men and women having numerous insurance frauds committed against them that literally kills them. In Canada these agencies are disobeying a direct Order of the Supreme Court of Canada to compensate financially and medically for Chronic Pain caused by injuries. Forced into poverty and losing all they worked for, suffering unbearable pain, rights taken and subsequent psychological abuse, many injured workers commit suicide. Others die of heart attack, stroke, or ulcers bought on by Chronic Pain. This is happening in every workers compensation system. I call it genocide. Eugenics of the unfit, disabled. Everything mankind has fought against for thousands of years. Inequality and injustice kills us. The responsible party causing so much harm is the Crown. It is they who are supposed to protect the people from criminal insurance gangs cutting off medical and financial aid to seriously sick or injured people. It is they who allow, condone, permit, these bad faith insurance practices to happen. We are dealing with an International crime syndicate responsible for the murders of 100’s of 1,000’s of individuals they have deemed as “disabled”. Once they have that evidence, the appeals and abuses start. As a matter of fact the Workers Compensation Board of Ontario, Canada, has declared me dead and have cut off my disability pension now for over a year. All I can say to that is; ‘Don’t you think I type quite eloquently for a dead man?” Rise up “injured workers” everywhere in the Commonwealth. Demand your basic rights to justice be enforced and demand the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of those responsible for these crimes against humanity. Demand the bonus system which is obtained illegal money taken as a percentage of denied serious injury claims be abolished. no more cutting off injured workers medications and therapies to obtain a bonus! Go to my site on Youtube. Watch my videos about 9/11 first Responders in America and their horrendous mistreatment. The Gulf Oil Spill victims, and many more. Are you a victim of ‘compensation abuse”? Are you being neglected and abused and tortured with untreated Chronic Pain? Are you V.O.C.A.L. (Victims Of Compensation Abuse League) Keep speaking. Tell the world. Warn them.

  7. wendy jevons says:

    in the second world war Hitler did ethnic cleansing of the jews and anyone who was disabled in any way , today the conservatuve parliment are doing the same to the Ill and disabled of our country. people who in the past some fought for thier country, or worked and became ill.
    they employ a french company to put people back into work , i work have done all my life most of it within the NHS and in the community with released prison men and women .
    but i back all the way those who are being tortured because this is a form of mental torture to decent people , who are ill , those who want work. and people must back the people who are sick in support against this barbaric system

  8. jeffrey davies says:

    ah figures they given earlier then its more now this is why they wont give them we each now someone whose died through this I bet its bloody disgusting how they get away with it so little noise coming from them who in that house to protect us but more die daily ,I was with one a few weeks ago who took me fishing but he had told me a small tale of being found fit to work and this being sunday was to go into the jcp Thursday following but sadly didn’t make it died on his kitchen floor the night before wonder if he was being placed in that sanction box ready to be ,but now hes gone and still this goes on when will it stop isn’t it enough have died through their greed has this is whots it about greed pure and simple perhaps thoase in power with their vast amounts of monies they sit on say we must tighten our belt well we didn’t loose the monies you lot did by allowing them to rob you or your monies not us but yet we pay we pay with less benefits and led friends has they died along the way how much longer is this going to go on as before long that last person through the door wont be able to put that light out has they gone jeff3

  9. Stepping Razor Sound Plate says:

    Not having Cold Weather Payments because you can`t get them because you couldn`t pass the test is another thing that will push disabled over the edge as well. Disabled people still have No Human Rights in August .2013

  10. Chris Guest says:

    “One soldier dies on the streets of Britain and the whole country goes into mourning and rightly so.10,600 Sick people die nobody batters an eye lid.What fucked up perspectives the people of this country have”

    1. Gary says:

      The whole country didn’t go into mourning – I don’t know one person who mourned. The media went into mourning (well a pretend fake kind of mourning) because it suited the agenda of the rich owners.

  11. Red says:

    10,000 people die per week in the uk on average,many of them of course disabled,elderly sick,handicapped,incapacitated.these figures are manipulated to make it look like the government is to blame.there is no proof that any of those,except the unstable who couldn’t cope with the new rules and felt there was no help out there even if there is and whose community weren’t watching out for their vulnerabilities( neighbours used to look after the infirm etc why not now.selfish society!where were you when your neighbour killed themselves feeling they couldn’t cope…..why couldn’t they feel you were there for them and how the hell does a government with any policies prevent that instability when their own families and pvedones can’t ffs) who died did so because of failures or administration of new rules.facts dont lie but can be manipulated and misconstrued and conspiracy theorists thrive on such numbers and people’s willingness to find someone to blame,the economical issues are world wide,less me me me and more help each other would sove all this! Less beer cigs holidays we feel we are entitled to every year and more offering to cook a meal for the elderly,offer a warm drink to a mum struggling with her kids.imho of course.jus hate the bandwagon brainwashing on both sides of the fence and had to share! Sue me! Oh and well said Brig McLean.

  12. steph says:

    I am a bit confused about these figures, are they figures of those who died whilst claiming in each of those categories, or those who died after being taken off of ESA but who were previously in one of those categories?

    and Reds post screams of a total lack of understanding of mental health. Its not simply a case of having someone there for them, the stress is caused by them simply not being physically able to cope with the change and lack of stability, as well as the added stress of being in a cycle of claims, appeals, tribunals, over and over. Because with Esa there is often no end, even once you win your appeal, which can take a year, a week later you cam expect another assessment letter as the 12 months of your claim is up. Its a nasty cycle with no hope of an end in sight, ever.

  13. Stepping Razor says:

    Man starved after benefits were cut – 9:00am Friday 28th February 2014 – The Oxford Times: –

    A “VULNERABLE and fragile” man starved to death four months after most of his benefits were stopped and he was left with just £40 a week to survive on.

    Atos Healthcare – which assesses peoples’ ability to work on behalf of the Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – ruled that 44-year-old Mark Wood, from Bampton, was fit to work.

    But at an inquest into his death, Oxford Coroner’s Court heard testimony that Mr Wood was far from fit to hold down a job.

    Weighing just 5st 8lbs when he died of malnutrition in August last year, Mr Wood had obsessive compulsive disorder, Aspergers syndrome, phobias of food, pollution, paint fumes, and social situations, and cognitive behavioural problems.

    His GP Nicolas Ward told yesterday’s proceedings: “He was an extremely vulnerable and fragile individual who was coping with life.

    “Something pushed him or affected him in the time before he died and the only thing I can put my finger on is the pressure he felt he was under when his benefits were removed.”

    Dr Ward, from Bampton Medical Practice, said he had not been contacted by either Atos or DWP about Mr Wood’s medical history, and revealed that if they had asked for his professional opinion he would have said Mr Wood was unfit for work.

    Mr Wood had been receiving housing benefit, employment and support allowance, and disability living allowance of £40 a week and had been living independently since 2006.

    But in January last year Atos Healthcare ruled that Mr Wood was healthy and able to work. Following its assessment, in about April last year, Mr Wood’s housing benefits and employment support allowance were stopped by the DWP, leaving just the disability allowance.

    The inquest heard he was not able to pay his rent of utility bills.

    Mr Wood’s family claim their “gentle and sweet” son and brother would still be alive if his benefits had not been stopped.

    His sister Cathie Wood, 48, from North Oxford, told the Oxford Mail: “Atos are completely to blame. If they had not evaluated him as normal he would have carried on in his own way and would not have died last summer.”

    His mother Jill Gant, from Abingdon, explained to the coroner that the family only found out Mr Wood did not have any money a few weeks before he died and sent him £250.

    Ms Wood said: “By then it was too late, he was so fragile and unstable. We didn’t realise how bad things were.

    “He found it difficult to accept help from his family because he tried to live independently so he gave the money away.

    “He had a lot of problems, but he was very gentle and sweet.”

    At the inquest, Mrs Gant said: “I think he died of the severe effects of malnutrition, but there were precipitating causes.

    “Extreme stress and lack of money caused by the removal of his benefits led to his eating problems, and malnutrition led to his death.”

    Between April – around the time his benefits stopped – and his death his body mass index plunged from 14.1 to about 11.5. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered healthy.

    Pathologist Clare Verrill told the court a BMI below 13 could kill a man but a cause of death could not be given because his body had decomposed. Mr Wood had last been seen alive on July 29 but his body was not discovered until August 9.

    Oxfordshire Coroner Darren Salter gave a narrative verdict at the inquest. He said: “Mr Wood had an eating disorder and food phobia. It is likely that this caused or contributed to his death as he was markedly underweight and malnourished.”

    He added: “I accept the evidence about something pushing him over the edge heard by the GP Mr Ward.

    On the other hand we do know cash was provided prior to death, but because of his phobias he didn’t use that cash to buy food.”

    His family are meeting Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood next Friday to try to find out why he was declared fit for work. Ms Wood said they may consider legal proceedings.

    Atos Healthcare spokeswoman Tessa David said: “Our thoughts are with the family of Mr Wood at this difficult time.

    “We carry out the Government’s Work Capability Assessment as professionally and compassionately as possible.”

    DWP spokesman Ann Rimell said: “A decision on whether someone is well enough to work is taken following a thorough assessment and after consideration of all the supporting medical evidence from the claimant’s GP or medical specialist.”

    DWP figures show that between October 2010 and March 2013, more than 1,000 people across Oxfordshire stopped receiving employment and support allowance benefits.

    Suzy Drohan, joint manager of Barton’s Oxfordshire Welfare Rights, said: “It is terrible, I’m really concerned about how Mr Wood has fallen through the cracks.”

    Between January 2012 and January this year Oxfordshire Welfare Rights took 312 cases to tribunal appeals against DWP decisions, and 281 were successful.

    What ATOS does
    •Atos undertakes benefits assessments for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) called work capability assessments – most people are re-assessed once a year. The DWP then makes a decision based on Atos recommendations.
    •Over the last few weeks protests have been held outside more than 100 Atos centres including its Oxford offices in St Aldate’s.
    •Last week Atos revealed it wanted to quit its £500m Government contract early because of threats made to its staff.
    •Yesterday, it was reported in several national newspapers that Atos staff have been told to leave all current employment and support allowance claimants on their benefit, without repeat medical checks, until another company can be found to do assessments.

    The Oxford Times:-
    http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/11043378.Man_starved_after_benefits_were_cut/

    1. Mr jeffrey l davies says:

      yes its not our fault yes its dwp who decide yet the same old retric comes out of their mouths while we die has of it welcome to Britain 2014 yet another soul lost for whot they loose more money every day with their dodgy firms who do these wca yet more will suffer hadn’t seen you post for a while sr but sadly these posts of mates friends family die yet it isn’t our fault jeff3

  14. Stepping Razor says:

    DWP: Housing benefit will be sanctioned – 27th February 2014 – InsideHousing:-

    Part-time workers judged to be doing too little to find full-time work face having their benefit for housing costs sanctioned by the government for the first time under universal credit.

    Under the present system housing benefit is paid direct to landlords and sanctions can only be applied to out-of-work benefits, such as jobseeker’s allowance or employment support allowance.

    Landlords, already concerned by the prospect of universal credit being paid directly to tenants, have been lobbying the government to exempt the housing element of the single payment from sanctions in all circumstances.

    However, the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed to Inside Housing that under the government’s flagship welfare reform, where a tenant is working less than 35 hours a week at minimum wage and is not eligible for JSA or ESA, the housing element can be sanctioned instead.

    Landlords are concerned that by extending ‘in-work conditionality’ to the housing element, if the DWP deems claimants to not be doing enough to find full-time employment and applies sanctions, rent arrears could increase.

    Sue Ramsden, head of policy for neighbourhoods at the National Housing Federation, said that until now, it has been unclear whether the DWP would allow housing costs to be exempt. ‘We are pressing for DWP staff to have regard for the need for an alternative payment arrangement to be put in place at the same time that the sanction is imposed,’ she said.

    Sam Lister, policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said there was concern about the effect of sanctions on arrears at a time when the housing benefit caseload for in-work claimants continued to rise, but much depended on how the policy was implemented. He added: ‘It will depend on the instructions given to DWP administrators about how strictly the sanctions are implemented in the case of part-time workers who are in receipt of benefit as a contribution to housing costs.’

    No research has been carried out on the impact sanctions could have on arrears. More than 1 million people are currently in work but reliant on housing benefit to meet their housing costs, up from 691,000 in 2010.

    A DWP spokesperson said: ‘It is only right that people claiming benefits should be aware that not sticking to the rules can have a consequence. Any reductions to benefits as a result of a sanction are applied to the universal credit benefit as a whole rather than a particular element of it.’

    InsideHousing.co.uk:-
    http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/dwp-housing-benefit-will-be-sanctioned/7002330.article

  15. nick says:

    until a high court action is taken out against IDS things will just continue forever and that is a fact as any lawyer will tell you

  16. Leslie says:

    Add to that 10,600 the many who were not disabled and had their JSA stopped and I wonder what the real score is? I know of people who slash their wrists in the jobcentre due to some wicked advisors decision means starving at home or getting fed in hospital (one happened recently in Harlesden jobcentre).
    I was myself sanctioned by JCP/DWP for six months when it was the work programme provider who’s staff were unable to function despite being on duty.
    I posted my timeline of 2 years at Ingeus work programme here (so I can link back to it). if you open the comments fully, I have added evidence (screengrabs of emails, letters etc..) to back up what I claim to have happened.

    https://www.facebook.com/dailymirror/posts/10152241563449162

  17. Sickof this says:

    This is a social cull millionaires gamble other millionaires money lose & now every single person but the top 5% are paying for it & those weakest in our society are being killed off so that greed & corruption can continue

  18. D Lee says:

    The trouble is with ‘statistics’ as in this case, they never give an accurate image of what is happening, so my query would be, how many of those people would have died anyway within that time period regardless of result or pending result of assessment…. and before anyone comments, I am Registered Disabled, have been since the age of 15 (I am now 52) and yes, I could have sat on my backside all my life letting the taxpayers cough up, but I didn’t, I have worked all my life, self employed and only get the Higher Rate of Mobility Allowance, A Blue Badge and Free Road Tax.

  19. leso says:

    Maybe the only thing these conservatives will understand isn’t the law being thrown at them, but personal harm. If I get a chance to get at one of them I will punch for thousands!! Everybody should let the politicians know the rest of us won’t pay the price for this bankers utopia. If you have children don’t let them join the armed forces, this place isn’t worth fighting for anymore!!

  20. STEPHEN MURPHY says:

    this is murder on a grand scale so where are the police ,and why are they not looking into this ,how can people be passed fit when thryve had heart surgery, or a stroke and atos find them fit to work ,sanctions brought against people by people who don’t have a clue its got to stop ORE SOME FAMILIES NEED TO BAND TOGETHER AND TAKE A CLASS ACTION AGAINST THE GOVERMENT ,ABOUT 70.000 SHOULD DO IT AND LETS SEE WHAT ESTHER MCVAY AND THE VERMIN IDS SAYS THE VERY BEST LEGAL MINDS MUST BE BROUGHT IN TO SORT THIS OUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO BE TRIED FOR WHATS HAPPENING

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