Benefits Street: A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Ours targets the poor and voiceless – Owen Jones

Independent

Benefits Street: A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Ours targets the poor and voiceless – Owen Jones

Owen-Jones-007
OWEN JONES Wednesday 8 January 2014

A long, slow handclap for TV executives turning communities against each other

How edgy Channel 4 must think it is, courageously reinforcing widespread prejudices, heroically hammering away at a message that is heard relentlessly already, bravely echoing the Government mantra about skivers. I hesitate to write about Benefits Street, their miserable programme which aired this week, knowing as I do that I’m partly satisfying its producers’ lust for attention. After all, these are people who seemingly show little concern for people’s well-being in their stampede for ratings. Columns like this one could be passed off by disingenuous TV executives as a sign of the “debate” that their trash has helped to provoke. But the only debate to be opened is why we let our media get away with it.

james turner street

Benefits Street followed a now-predictable formula. Television producers hunt for unsympathetic examples of unemployed people – in this case, on a street in Birmingham; they portray them in the worst possible light; and they fuel the pervasive sense that people on benefits are feckless scroungers. According to some of those used as fodder for the show, they were misled into appearing and told that they were featuring in a programme about community spirit. “They have edited everything to suit their own needs – taken a positive and turned it into a negative,” says Dee Roberts, a support worker who featured in Benefits Street.

The company responsible is ironically titled Love Productions, but their sensationalist programme produced a tidal wave of hate. Social media abounded with calls for those who appeared on the show – and people on benefits more broadly – to be shot, hanged or gassed. Some Twitter users pledged to assault the show’s participants if they saw them. A long, slow handclap for these TV executives trying to make names for themselves and turning communities against each other in the process.

benefit-street

A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Not ours, though: instead it stands up to the poor and voiceless. Skint was another, similar Channel 4 offering, this time kicking a community in Scunthorpe struggling with deindustrialisation. Channel 5 broadcast a three-part series focusing on criminal behaviour: Shoplifters and Proud, Pick Pockets and Proud, and Benefits and Proud, as though being on benefits was somehow not lawful. Again, extreme examples were hunted down, including Heather Frost and her 11 children, who the media have already turned into a minor celebrity.

When BBC 3’s People Like Us targeted an estate in Harpurhey, Manchester, angry local residents staged a meeting, decrying the “biased and distorted” view of the community. One local council worker, Richard Searle, claimed that his daughter had been given alcohol before filming, and called for the Beeb to stop “propagating this harmful and misleading image of the working class”. Take another BBC offering, The Future of the Welfare State, which was presented by veteran interviewer John Humphrys and which claimed that Britain was living in “an age of entitlement”. It was slammed by the BBC Trust for breaching impartiality and accuracy rules and leaving viewers “unable to reach an informed opinion”.

This dross has left the public woefully ill-informed. Polls show that people on average estimate that 27 per cent of social security payments are lost to fraud, when it is just 0.7 per cent; that 41 per cent goes to unemployed people, when it just three per cent; and that the value of benefits are far higher than they are. Neither is the public aware that most social security spending is, rightly, spent on pensioners who have paid in all their lives; or that the Government’s freeze on benefits mostly hits working people. Large families are passed off as typical, even though just 190 out of the 1.35 million claiming an out-of-work benefits have 10 kids or more. A healthy media would challenge myths and prejudices; ours is determined to fan them.

Here is the world that is missing from our television screens. The poverty-wage-paying bosses and rip-off-rent-charging landlords milking our welfare state dry as we subsidise them with tax credits and housing benefit. The low-paid workers struggling along on in-work benefits and falling wages, who make up the bulk of Britain’s poor. The 6.5 million people looking for full-time work, in many cases sending out CV after CV and not even getting a reply. The £16bn worth of benefits unclaimed each year – benefit evasion, if you will – compared to £1.2bn lost to fraud.

Conveniently, too, TV shows are shifting our glare away from the real villains of modern Britain. Where are the shows about the wealthy tax-dodgers who deprive the Exchequer of £25bn each year, even as millions have to both pay their taxes and be pounded by austerity? What about the bankers who plunged the world into economic catastrophe and continue to thrive as others suffer the consequences?

This isn’t a conspiracy of politicians and producers cackling around the table together as they devise devious new plans to pummel the poor. A culture of redirecting blame has been encouraged by our political rulers, one that is happily perpetuated by our ideologically-driven newspapers. As unpaid internships and expensive Masters’ qualifications become gateways to TV careers, it is the privileged who are commissioning the shows who are airbrushing out the reality of modern Britain.

The poison must be stopped. Let’s make Benefits Street the moment that they overreached themselves and start demanding television give a platform to the reality of life for millions which – to the relief of those in power – is ignored and safely hidden from view. 

The Independent

See also

Threats of Death and Violence after Channel 4 Programme Benefits Street Posted by  on 6th January 2014

 

 

 

 

 

Benefits Street producers previously accused of putting children at risk by  on 7th January 2014

 

 

342 thoughts on “Benefits Street: A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Ours targets the poor and voiceless – Owen Jones

  1. nick says:

    it’s was a bad program straight out of the USA types of program’s to portray the unemployed as reckless so that it leaves the door open for the government to crush them as and when they choose to do so or in the case of the sick and disabled crush them to death through welfare reform as we have all seen in the past few years

    The UK for me is worse now in it’s politics as it’s ever been with no balance or common sense shown at any time’ only extreme measures like you see in dictatorial countries left on offer for those that stay with the sick and disabled bearing the brunt of mental brutality alone in their house in private

  2. Boadacia Iceni says:

    Maybe someone should start an anti-media campaign on Avaaz or Amnesty International to curb the crimes of the billionaires in power pulling the strings of the media and disgusting politicians and their insipid propaganda to an ignorant public?

    If Owen was ever to be voted into power, he would probably be hit by a mysterious untraceable curare laden dart! Britain has really turned ‘Ugly!’ But history shows us all, it has always been so.

  3. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    CHANNEL FOUR SHOULD BE DOING A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT BILL GUNNYEON, THE SO CALLED, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE DWP……..

    WHAT AN EXCITING STORYLINE………….

    LINKS TO CAPITA, LINKS TO UNUM INSURANCE, HOW HE AND HIS CO-CONSPIRATORS OF THE FACULTY OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE LAID THE PATH FOR WELFARE REFORMS TO ALLOW AMERICAN STYLE HEALTH INSURANCE ON OUR SHORES…………………..

    THE PATHWAY TO PRIVATISATION OF THE NHS AND THE TWISTED IDEALS OF MANSEL AYLWARD, THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND ATOS AND ITS WARPED CREDENTIALS…………………………….

    ETC, ETC, ETC………………

    THE MAKING OF MODERN BRITAIN BY SECRET LOBBYING AND MINISTERS IN THE POCKETS OF THE INSURANCE MULTINATIONALS………

    WHAT’S THE DEATH COUNT NOW, BILL?

  4. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ……….OR CHANNEL FOURS DOCUMENTARY, ENTITLED, “TALES FROM THE SUBSIDISED BARS AND RESTAURANTS OF WESTMINSTER”……

    …………..a chance to catch up on scandal of who took what, and from whom,
    How we languished on three hundred pounds a day expenses that were paid for by the same people now committing suicide, starving, homeless and desperate to even exist……………………………

    A TALE OF TWO CITIES, ONE ABUNDANT WITH AFFLUENCE WHILST THE OTHER BEGS………………

    ………..THE TALE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND ITS DECLINE………..

    1. stitchedupanbroken says:

      Well spoken Bill. I would like to comment so much more…and to tell you what I have witnessed. Sorry to say,I can’t/ wont cos I don’t know how to use this internet thing,and believe it’s all monitored(MI5/DWP)…they’re ‘all in it together’. There’s a cabal of people now working for themselves and their children…the ‘middle and working class’ are to be the underclass: no security of employment,powerless,shafted if they dare speak out.

      Endorse all what you’ve said. Then,let’s have a programme about what brought about the riots in England…and why there were none in Oxfordshire or Eton!!!

      My only sadness is that some of my own class are recruited by the forces to go overseas and kill others on very dubious arguments. ‘On orders’ they’d be prepared to subjugate and torture British protesters. The toffs,the elite…they see the army recruits come back in coffins and body bags or wheelchairs…patriots!

      I was educated to be cannon-fodder. Will never forgive this country’s elite and rapacious money grubbers for what they have done to my fellow countrymen. Pure evil running the country now. Journalists suppin with the devil

  5. Tony Dean says:

    I cannot help but suspect the DWP colluded in the making of that programme because it is impossible to get the depth and detail needed to find a street like that without access to the DWP claimant database to search the whole thing. (Few people at the DWP are authorised or able to do that kind of data mining.)
    Then there is Osborne announcing he would like to cut £12 billion off of the welfare budget on the day the first of the programmes was broadcast.

    1. Karen M says:

      Quite often programme makers will advertise in the press for people to come forward. The advertisement may not have had any resemblance to “Benefits Street” as it appeared.

  6. Annos says:

    “Benefits Street” = Orcastrated far right brainwashing of the weak minded, a lot of these people will not understand what is going on until they need help, then it will be too late for them.

    Turning the working class against the working class is easy peezy for the right wing, they have been doing it for time immemorial. They are always on the lookout for new ways.

    “We need a program of psychosurgery and political control of our society. The purpose is physical control of the mind. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be surgically mutilated.
    “The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective.
    “Man does not have the right to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must electrically control the brain. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electrical stimulation of the brain.”

    Dr. Jose Delgado (MKULTRA experimenter who demonstrated a radio-controlled bull on CNN in 1985)
    Director of Neuropsychiatry, Yale University Medical School
    Congressional Record No. 26, Vol. 118, February 24, 1974

    http://www.hermes-press.com/brainwash1.htm

  7. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    HOW ABOUT A DOCUMENTARY ON THE YUPPIES IN LONDON BLASTING THOUSANDS ON CHAMPAGNE OR MALE MEMBERS OF OUR ROYAL FAMILY, CLUBBING AND DRINKING OBSCENELY PRICED COCKTAILS FROM AN ALCOHOL FILLED TREASURE CHEST IN AN EXCLUSIVE NIGHT CLUB?

    ………OR A TOUR OF THE QUEENS WARDROBE AND KITCHENS, EXPOSING THE BIGGEST WELFARE SCROUNGER ON OUR SHORES AND THE WANTON WASTE OF MONEY ON INBREDS WHO OCCUPY A 240 BEDROOMED BEDSIT, NOT 400 YARDS FROM A FOODBANK………………………

    OBSCENE IS NOT A WORD TO BE TRIFLED WITH, BUT IT DESCRIBES THE TOP END OF OUR SOCIETY AND THE WAY IT TREATS THE UNFORTUNATE………………..

    I AM UNFORTUNATE, BUT FORTUNATE TO HAVE WITNESSED MANS CRUELTY TO MAN AND THE CORROSIVE EFFECT ON OUR SOCIETY.

    WHAT I SEE IS HEART RENDERING, A WAKE UP CALL TO THE MASSES TO BRING THE FEW PERCENT, DOWN TO EARTH WITH A BANG!

    THEY ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE ORDINARY PERSON.

    IT SHOWED ON THE GOVERNMENT WEBSITE, ADVERTISING GOVES WIFES PRODUCT, A SIMPLE TUB OF COSMETIC CREAM FOR THE SAME PRICE AS TWO WEEKS BENEFIT………………

    HATRED IS BUILDING AND THERE IS ONLY EVER ONE WINNER…………………..

    ……………..THE PEOPLE.

  8. bobchewie says:

    @JJ there is a petition against this sick tv show ..over 5,000 have signed ..it was even reported on ITV news ..so maybe tv companies will address this.
    I complained to BBC over propaganda against jobless…tthey said they will take note..

  9. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “I CRIED BECAUSE I HAD NO SHOES, AND THEN I SAW A MAN WHO HAD NO LEGS!”

    …………….my father drilled this into me from a young age and the significance of this simple fable have remained with me….

    Perhaps it shows a humbleness to understand the plight of others as a contrast to what we would require ourselves.

    This awareness seems to have vanished and been replaced with an evil that transcends all other evils, greed!

    One can only appreciate something if they have never had it or never experienced it, for many, wishing is not a choice, but a way of life……………………

    I prefer to carry on wishing, what little i have means more to me than the wealth of a thousand men……….

  10. Humanity2012 says:

    Boycott the Regime Media

    It is the Rich Politicians and Tory Liberal Democrat Cabinet
    of Millionaires who are the Real Scroungers

    Britain have a Conscience Help the Poor Say No to Oppression

  11. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    CABINET MINISTERS, INCLUDING IAIN DUNCAN SMITH, ARE PRESSING FOR AN ABOVE INFLATION RISE OF 50P TO THE MINIMUM WAGE………………….

    THIS IS THE ACT OF A MAN IN A CORNER, THE MAN WHO SURGICALLY AND WITHOUT REMORSE, LED AN ATTACK ON THE DISABLED AND WEAKEST THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS OF BENEFIT CLAIMANTS.

    ONE CANNOT ATONE FOR WHAT THE BLOODBATH THAT WAS CREATED WHILST BEING AWARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES FROM IT’S INCEPTION…………………..

    BEING SURROUNDED BY BODYGUARDS WHO SEEK TO PROTECT YOUR EXISTENCE, IS TESTAMENT TO THE EVIL YOU PERPETRATED ON OTHERS………………………………..

    TIME TO FALL ON YOUR SWORD AND RID THE WORLD OF A TYRANT.

    ………WALKING OUT OF A DEBATE ON FOODBANKS AND SNEERING WHILST BEING TOLD THE HORRORS OF YOUR POLICIES ARE A BURDEN ON YOUR CONSCIENCE THAT WILL HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS………………………………………

    ………..AND I’M SURE IT WILL, BECAUSE WE WILL NOT LET YOU FORGET…

  12. Stepping Razor says:

    The Benefits House – CH 4`s Big Brother Benefits House.

    What a political election advert for the conservatives.

  13. Tina Connor says:

    I agree with you whole heartedly about Channel 4 doing a programme about ATOS and the misery its causing. People are committing suicide for Gods sake. I think this government is trying to kill off all the poor and disabled in the country. Disgusting.

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of what you have said Tina……………..

      What sort of government hides the contract between itself, and a proven renegade company, ATOS?

      The contract should be placed in the public domain to be scrutinised by our leading lawyers and compensation paid to those who have suffered hardship and misery as a result of this twisted partnership in crime.

      Families should be compensated for the loss of honest and decent people who have succumbed to death as a consequence of these heinous policies, but most of all, the Human Rights Commission should act………………

      They sit on there arses and pretend nothing is happening to the disabled and poorest in the uk, when in reality they have a tranche of information that is readily available from all and sundry…………………

      When Cameron quoted,”We are all in this together”, i saw the significance of what he implied, a cover up of epic proportions of the mistreatment of the most vulnerable!

      On monday, Tina, i am at a tribunal in my home town of Scarborough, to try and disprove that i have defrauded the DWP by initiating payments to a disability that they maintain i can work with.

      By virtue of the fact that i stand before a tribunal, and by virtue of the fact that i stand, guilty already, i am being persecuted contrary to the disability laws that have been drafted to protect my status of being disabled…………….

      What we are witnessing is an all out assault, by those who are able, upon those who are less able to defend themselves, bullying on a dramatic scale…………

      I stand guilty, by the fact that a pecuniary action has been “violated”, against me, in the removal of my benefits.
      Since the 23rd july last year, when my DLA was terminated, i have been forced to live on just £32 per week and my partners, couple of afternoons, wages.
      We have a son and daughter.
      Destitution was forced on us after the removal of my incapacity benefit and then my lifeline to freedom, my DLA.

      The thirty two pounds that i was left with, consisted of Industrial Accident Benefit, that was awarded following an accident at work.

      The DWP also suspended this payment for eight months for no given reason………….

      …….the whole seedy business of the contract between our government and ATOS should lead to an open inquiry, heads should roll and action should follow.

  14. Stepping Razor says:

    I watched the 1st one [a whole series to go] !! The people in it are so desperate for money they agreed to go on it for £500 a person & to be on tv. Let`s all play & act extra street.

    It is what the government want you to see, how these scroungers run their lives as street rats, doing crime & claiming benefits.

    Even if CH 4 did a documentary about atos, ch 4 would be told by the government to tone it down a lot.

    In full swing of the 2015 election campaign full steam ahead with no brakes.

    The conservatives propaganda in full swing !!

    SR

  15. Serenity says:

    RE: Inside out in the early part of the 20th century up too the 1950’s, (maybe longer in either direction) it was the Irish who were the cheap labour for farmers. Did you ever hear then propaganda about them doing jobs the British did not want? The British wouldn’t have wanted them then as there was no benefits in those days and the Irish were often made too sleep in out-buildings with the animals, going back home when the season was over.

  16. Trevor says:

    Actually, Sam, Channel 4 has done a pretty good documentary on Atos (Dispatches, 30th July 2012) which exposed what a vile, deceitful organisation it truly is. Alas, the same series then followed this up with a hatchet job on claimants (“Tricks of the Dole Cheats”, 13th August 2012).

    Now we’re seeing the same despicable tactics that have been successfully used to demonise the poor by the right-wing media being employed against the NHS. Hardly a day goes by without some negative report on the “failings” of the health system, all designed to erode public confidence in the NHS thus weakening resistance to its eventual privatisation.

    1. Tina Connor says:

      What about Channel 4 doing an expose of the most vindictive and incompentant Ian Duncan Smith. There are a few skeletons rattling around in his cupboard plus the massive mistakes and bad decisions he has made since coming to office e.g. Universal Credit just one example.

  17. AL says:

    If you want to fraudulently claim benefits you find out what is required and you get it right first time. If you need to claim honestly you think telling the truth is enough to ensure you qualify and sadly that is WRONG! We all know that now don’t we? Ha! Isn’t that silly?

    The assessments and the tightening up of rules allows fraud to continue and denies the most vulnerable money to live.

    The Govt admit benefit fraud is still too high. It’s not coming down. Their own figures prove deserving people are wrongly failing their WCA assessments. Either ATOS, the people working within ATOS and those in the DWP are not doing their jobs properly or the system is broken and not fit for purpose.

    ATOS assessers are supposedly looking for mental health problems and failing to spot them. People are failing their assessments and commiting suicide as a result. They can’t cope. These assessments are flawed, not fit for purpose and in most cases not carried out by people competant to do the job. I do wish that families would sue. These are medical people failing to spot the signs. They have to be responsible. It’s their job to get it right. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people are depending on them getting it right.

    Who takes responsibility? No-one. The people involved should be named and shamed. At the very least they should be disciplined. They should know the result of their actions and learn from what has happened. They have a very responsible job and the only responsibility they currently take, is to their own pay packet. This is the reality of HARD working people for you.

    While the Govt wait and watch tragedy after tragedy unfold, hoping for savings, lives are ruined and lost. Will you be the next person that finds yourself at the end of your rope? Or will it be my freind that’s been getting close lately? Or me? Anyone brave enough to do it in front of ATOS, DWP or Job Centre staff and traumatise the lot of them? How else will they realise the results on their actions? I think of Shaun Pilkington blowing his brains out quietly at home, and rest his soul I care for him and his family and their suffering, but what a waste and a scandal that hardly anyone noticed, it made no impression. It made me want to go get a gun, pop down to the Job centre and do it properly. My poor addled brains and blood splattered everywhere! Take a good week at least for some HARD working person to wash it off the walls and carpet, and likely it would never wash out of the brains of those that witnessed it!

    Sorry but I am so angry that no-one with any influence seems to care a jot. Educated, privilaged, powerful people and they are showing themselves to be stupid, cruel, bigoted, judgemental and wasting so so so much of the HARD working tax payers money achieving little more than misery, trauma anxiety and death. Shame on them!

  18. Angry Spoonie says:

    I shall be boycotting Channel 4 for the forseeable future. We need to vote with our feet.

  19. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    HAVING JUST READ TOM PRIDES BLOGG, WORDS FAIL ME…………..

    THE DEPTH OF DEPRAVITY THAT THE DWP WILL GO, SEEMINGLY HAVE NO BOUNDARY………………

    A LADY WHO HAS A RARE FORM OF BONE CANCER HAS BEEN REFUSED ESA ALLOWANCE BECAUSE THE DWP HAVE ADJUDICATED THAT SHE CONTRIBUTED TO IT.

    MAYBE ITS THE PRODUCT OF BEING INSTRUCTED TO GOOGLE THE EFFECTS OF AN ILLNESS, RATHER THAN ASK AN ATOS HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL, AS RELEASED IN A MEMO TO INTERNAL DWP STAFF ON 7TH NOV 2013……………………

    26 November 2013

    Dear DWP CAXTON HOUSE EXTERNAL Communications,

    Thank you for your reply to FoI request reference 5501.

    The communication to members of your staff I am seeking is
    referenced to in this link:

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/civ…

    You can see it is clear on the date of 7th November and The Mirror
    does not show the title, referencing it only as DWP staff bulletin.

    I trust from this information supplied you are now able to progress
    the request.

    Yours sincerely,

    Nigel Dale

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

    EXTREMELY STRANGE HOW THE DWP ARE DOING ALL THEY CAN NOT TO FULFILL THIS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST.

    WHY WOULD THE DWP TRY TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM THIS RENEGADE COMPANY, ATOS, AFTER SINGING THEIR PRAISES FOR SO LONG?

    COULD IT BE THAT THE MEDICAL REPORTS THEY CONDUCTED WERE FLAWED?

    COULD IT BE THAT THE SO CALLED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ONLY HAD A CERTIFICATE THAT WAS RECOGNISED ONLY BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND NO REAL MEDICAL ORGANISATION.?…………….

    OR COULD IT BE THE EMBARRASSING AMOUNT OF DEATHS AS A RESULT OF HEINOUS WELFARE CUTS TO THE DISABLED AND POOR THAT ARE BEING WITHHELD BY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA?

    MAKE YOUR OWN MINDS UP.

    POLITICS KILL, AND THE TWISTED POLITICS OF THIS GOVERNMENT, GO UNCHALLENGED………….

  20. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ITS SO EASY TO TAKE THE PISS FROM THE UNFORTUNATE PEOPLE OF OUR MEAGRE WELFARE PROGRAMME, AND REEL IN HORROR AS THEY STEAL AND TRY TO EARN A FEW BOB,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    THE REAL HORRORS OF OUR SOCIETY ARE NOT CAMERA SHY, JUST PROTECTED BY SOCIAL INDIFFERENCES.

    A GUY STEALS A FEW ITEMS OF CLOTHING VALUED AT HOW MUCH?

    YET THE CLOWN, IAIN DUNCAN SMITH SQUANDERS A SMALL FORTUNE THAT COULD HAVE PAID A LARGE PART OF OUR WELFARE BILLS AT THE SAME TIME THE POOREST ARE SHAFTED…………………..

    IDIOT CABLE HAS JUST FLOGGED ANOTHER PART OF OUR HERITAGE, ROYAL MAIL, AT A STAGGERING LOSS TO THE TREASURY OF AROUND 1.4 BILLION……….

    IT IS THESE CLOWNS THAT CHANNEL 4 SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON, NOT THE ONES WHO HAVE BEEN DRIVEN DOWN BY POVERTY.

    HOW MANY OF THE MOTHBALL BRIGADE SIT IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS?
    HOW MANY ARE AWAKE?
    HOW MANY ARE CLAIMING THEIR £300 A DAY EXPENSES WHILE I LIVE ON JUST £32 AND HAVE A PARTNER AND A SON?
    ……………AND THATS FOR A WHOLE WEEK!

    SAD PLACE, THE UK, IT REALLY IS……………………….

    THE DWP CAN SPY ON SOMEONE WHO GETS £71 WHILE OTHERS SCAM THE SYSTEM CHRONICALLY!

    TAKE MP’S FOR INSTANCE, THEY HYPE UP EXPENSES AND ACCRUE VAST FORTUNES ON SECOND HOMES ETC…….

    WHEN CAUGHT, GO TO PRISON IN THE CUSHTIEST OF JAILS, ENJOY ALL THE PRIVILEGES A NOB WOULD RECEIVE AND DO A FRACTION OF THE BIRD THAT A CHANNEL 4 FUN CHARACTER WOULD EXPECT….

    DOUBLE TALK, DOUBLE STANDARDS, DOUBLE CROSS!

    SICK BRITAIN, THE SEPTIC TANK OF THE ONCE CIVILISED WORLD…….

  21. AL says:

    Who are the benefit fraudsters anyway? 3 Job Centre staff in 2012 Jailed for over a million pounds of benefit fraud ripping off people identities and picking up the payments. 1100 DWP staff recieved verbal or written warnings for peeking at people records without reason or authority. Not sacked, not sanctioned, not jailed! Just a warning. How many peeking that didn’t get caught? Are your records safe? Is your identity safe? HARD working tax payers the lot of them. Doesn’t it make you proud?

  22. cris j says:

    Another one about a millionaire PM claiming DLA for his sick child and then telling other disabled people/children they don’t need it might be good viewing as well.

  23. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    …………..and it came to pass, lo and behold;

    Rather peculiar that the tory government have now indicated that they would require the commons to abrogate european laws, past and present and replace them with their own laws.
    Apparently a delegation of some ninety tory ministers have written to Cameron and asked him to draft alternatives to what we are already signed up for…………………………

    Being somewhat of a layman and not fully conversant with the rules, i would define this as, the government are in the shit and are attempting to move the goalposts to cover their fuck ups!

    You do not have to be a genius to realise, all is not well, when sky news discuss the tabloids and spend ten minutes talking about Kylie Minogue and Cameron Diaz…………………..

    ………every day another poll or organisation is featured on our newsreels, telling us that the economy is heading in the right direction……….

    Even a fool would not believe the hyped up crap that we are fed on a daily basis.
    Nevertheless, the government seem hellbent on winning the next election by trying to eliminate the wrath of the people, The UK is becoming more like China every day as moves are made to try and gag the mood of the nation…………….

    …………..Ask yourself, why, in the seventh richest country, are the slaughter of thousands of innocent welfare citizens, being overlooked by the policy?
    Why have our government stopped mortality rates being monitored?
    Why is every law ever to be drafted, on Disability Discrimination, Equality and Human Rights being violated?

    ………….the answer is simple, because they have not been brought to justice, hence the move to escape the European Courts of Law………………

    Our judicial system is a farce, run by the rich, on behalf of the rich, to suit the rich…………..
    Money will always buy justice, always will……

    Strangely, not all has gone to plan in the courts recently, the DWP have had their arses kicked on a number of occasions and are still shaking from the fallout. Jeremy Hunt, the ignorant, evil ****, has also had his tailfeathers clipped.

    People power is still a force to be reckoned with. They might hold the reins but the animal dictates the direction it wishes to go…………………

    1. disabled-dave says:

      Cameron’s claim that he will re-negotiate the British position after the next election and before a referendum, is complete bollocks.

      Under EU rules It is ILLEGAL for ANY country to try and renegotiate, UNLESS there has been a referendum and the people of the country have already voted to leave the EU.

      There is absolutely NO LEGAL WAY that Cameron can renegotiate BEFORE we have had a referendum and the majority have voted to leave the EU.

      Not that being illegal has stopped them in the past.

        1. Annos says:

          The whole system that governs us from top to bottom, inside out, right the way round is rotten to it’s very core….

  24. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ADD THIS TO THE SPIRALING DEATH COUNT OF THE DWP AND THE SICK, TWISTED BASTARD IDS……………………….

    NO WONDER THEY DECIDED NOT TO FOLLOW THE MORTALITY RATE.

    “YET ANOTHER STATE SANCTIONED MURDER”

    With respect and sadness we report the death of a 51 year old gentleman as reported on 4UP by the close friend who found him dead: “Another one off ESA. My friend who I have been trying to help by getting advise from 4UP over the last couple of months DIED in a freezing cold flat on Tuesday evening. He went 14 weeks with no money only to be told that his no compliance for attending an assessment had been good cause and he was entitled to his money with back pay,back to 5/10/13. He never got to see a penny. His money was paid into his bank on the afternoon he died. He was so ILL he couldn’t make it to the cash machine.
    This govt are evil bastards, especially IDS. I wish him all the harm possible.
    RIP Paul xx”

    Paul had worked all his life until he became ill last year. His appointment letter for his mandatory reassessment was sent to the wrong address – it was sent to number 52 and he lived at 52A. His MP spotted the mistake but it took 14 weeks to sort out.

    11th Jan 2013

    On the 2/1/14 he was told he would be paid. He was too sick to collect the money himself so he gave his friend his bank card to collect it. The money didn’t come in until Tuesday the 7th so tha say Paul’s friend went round to deliver him the money, couldn’t get an answer so broke the door down; found his friend lying dead. The friend had Paul’s cash in his pocket but the dwp had sent it too late. Money that had been stopped because they got his address wrong.

    Today (10/1/14) the friend went through Paul’s phone messages. Ingeus had texted him on the 07/01/14 to tell Paul he had an appointment on the 08/01/14 at 14.55pm. That’s 4 hours before he died. They haunted him to the last.

  25. jean swanson says:

    I have just left the following comment for the channel 4 about Benefits St. : “Please discontinue running this program and apologize to viewers and the people portrayed in the program. This is a perfect example of “poornography,” portraying people who are poor in such a way as to titillate viewers and create a demand for even more benefit cuts. I am disgusted with this program.”

    I’d tweet but don’t know how to . the program was disgusting and when I read how the producers duped the people who were filmed I was really disgusted. I wrote a Canadian book called, “Poor bashing, the politics of exclusion” . This program is certainly an example of poor bashing–the kind that is used to justify benefit cuts to people who really need a bit of help. I Hope you are successful in your fight. The whole disgusting situation could come here (Vancouver, Canada) if its not stopped.
    I am with a group in Vancouver called Raise the Rates, which is trying to get higher welfare rates. I’ll bring this up at our next meeting to see if I can get the whole groups to send their solidarity to you. I’m sure they will. In solidarity. Jean Swanson

  26. spabbygirl says:

    I totally agree with Owen. What a poor programme. Channel 4 have a format I think, its called ‘knock the poor/sick/disabled’ you simply tweak the title and participants.

  27. spabbygirl says:

    its the modern version of ‘lets go and see the loonies’ when the rich spent their Sunday afternoons visiting the poor in Bedlam, except thanks to telly you don’t have to leave your seats these days. I expect ATOS is working on plans for workhouses now, a separate wing for men and women so they won’t breed.

    The Bishop of Manchester regrets the Chancellor’s policy saying it is better suited to a Victorian novel. He is so right. It is good that we have a church prepared to speak up for the poor.

  28. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ……….”KNOW YOUR PLACE”

    TODAY I ATTENDED MY ESA TRIBUNAL IN SCARBOROUGH MAGISTRATES COURTS.

    THERE WAS A FEMALE DOCTOR AND A FEMALE JUDGE. UPON ENTERING THE COURT ROOM I WAS ASKED IF I WOULD LIKE TO SIT DOWN, THE USHER WAS A REALLY PLEASANT LADY.

    I DECLINED TO SIT, PREFERRING TO STAND, HOLDING MY STICK IN MY LEFT HAND TO SUPPORT ME.
    THE REASON I DID NOT SIT IS I HAVE TO WEAR A NAPPY BECAUSE I CANNOT CONTROL MY WATERWORKS AND I LEAK SOMETIMES WHEN I STAND UP!

    THE MAGISTRATE ANNOUNCED WHO SHE WAS, AND ALSO THE DOCTOR SAT BESIDE HER.

    THE MAGISTRATE BEGAN TALKING TO ME BUT HAD HER HEAD DOWN. I WEAR A HEARING AID IN MY LEFT EAR AND HAVE MODERATE TO SEVERE TINNITUS IN BOTH EARS AND A HEARING LOSS.
    LEANING FORWARD, I SAID, “I’M SORRY LOVE, BUT I CAN’T HEAR YOU”

    AT THAT SHE BIT MY HEAD OFF!

    “BEFORE WE CONTINUE THIS HEARING, I WOULD LIKE IT KNOWN THAT YOU DO NOT REFER TO ME OR THE DOCTOR AS LOVE”

    “I WILL BE ADDRESSED AS YOUR HONOUR OR YOUR WORSHIP AND SHE IS THE DOCTOR”

    I DID NOT KNOW WHERE TO LOOK, I WAS COMPLETELY HUMILIATED AND MADE TO FEEL LIKE A PIECE OF DIRT!

    TO ME, MY COMMENTS WERE THAT OF A NORMAL YORKSHIRE PERSON. I WAS NOT BEING RUDE IN ANY WAY, JUST MY USUAL SELF……………………………………………………………..

    THIS EPISODE HOWEVER, MADE ME MORE AWARE OF THE DYSFUNCTIONAL SOCIETY WE LIVE IN…………………..

    BEING A MERE PLEB IS JUST SOMETHING I WILL HAVE TO ACCEPT. MY STATION IN LIFE IS NONE EXISTENT, I MUST HAVE GOT OFF AT THE LAST STOP……………….

    1. AL says:

      How splendid Geoff. To be so full of her own self-importance but still be capable of being completely ignorant and rude. quite staggering. I guess thats how you get to the top! I like to respect everyone, but rudeness from those in authority and who should know better is not acceptable. Surprised the Usher did not educate you into how to behave if it was so important. The Judge should have already read your notes, been aware of your problems and made allowances too. It is not your job to know how to address a judge but it is her job to be respectful considerate and polite. How can she be seen to be fair, when she is disrespectful to people requiring her impartial judgement? Perhaps you could have replied ‘Apologies ladies, your dresses are indeed lovely. Could I ask your Horrible Parsnip, before we continue this hearing, I would like it to be known that unless you look at me when you speak, I will not be able to understand you’ Did you get a decision or are they keeping you waiting? Cautionary tale for others. Know your place and everyones titles. Really is there anything else we can get wrong?

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        “How did you guess Al?”

        That’s right they are keeping me waiting by having an adjournment to get further medical evidence of my rheumatoid arthritis that i have had since 1995.

        She is not satisfied this is my problem, although i was only deemed disabled for life when i was awarded DLA……………………….

        Seems i have to re – prove my condition all over again, the carousel of life has no boundaries when it comes to stealing benefits!!!

        1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

          Next month Al, i am in the magistrates court again to appeal the stoppage of my DLA…..

          ………in a document from the DWP, they quote; WE DO NOT DISPUTE MR. REYNOLDS HAS DISABLING CONDITIONS, WE HAVE STOPPED HIS DLA BECAUSE HE DID NOT RETURN AN ENQUIRY FORM ASKING HOW HIS DISABILITIES AFFECT HIM………………………
          ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
          THERFORE, at one hearing for ESA, i am being told i cannot have my benefit till i prove my disability, yet at the other hearing, they recognise my disability…….

          DWP, kicking the most vulnerable, each and every day, because they are the most likely, not to fight back…………

          1. AL says:

            Ah, the HARD working taxer payer generous as ever, coughing up for your medics to provide yet more info or to check you over again. Two tribunals and repeat visits too? They are spoiling you. I wonder what I will get? I want my moneys worth too. I’ve waited long enough. Just think all this because you and I can’t be trusted to know how we feel and some ATOS ‘yes person’ can be. And yes, these Assessments and all that goes with them are damaging people. Physically mentally emotionaly, its a disgrace.

            I keep thinking, where there’s blame there’s a claim. where are the lawyers wanting a good fight? People driven to suicide. Harrassed to death. Surely the DWP and ATOS can be made to pay? Peoples conditions are worsening and they are suffering and even dying because of it, Their torturers should pay. The only way the DWP is going to stop hurting and killing innocent people is if it costs them too much money to continue. Currently the lives of those who have commited suicide are worth nothing, indeed the DWP are saving money, that is wrong. What could be more precious than a life? The families of these people are suffering and deserve to be compensated for their loss The WCA exposed for the abusive, farsical and criminal process it is. I’m guessing it is simply too painful, daunting and expensive for the families to consider suing but I reckon if they did, the govt would have to take notice. Imagine the headline. Human rights lawyers take british Govt to task for murdering it’s people. If mis-selling pip is unlawful and requires compensation then mis-assessing human beings resulting in sickness and death should be too. How many more deaths before lawyers see there is profit to be made?

            1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

              What the magistrate said to me,haunted me so much, i decided to put in a formal complaint outlining her condescending attitude to claimants.

              1. AL says:

                Good Geoff! Bad for your feelings obviously, but good for standing up for yourself. And good for those who come after you. Those involved in the WCA and tribunals need to know how their actions affect others. We have to keep telling.

  29. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Upon filling the form in for the renewal of the blue badge for disabled, i was shocked to see some additions to the back pages!

    There are a series of boxes to tick, one of them states, i agree to the local authority contacting an accredited healthcare professional, if necessary,for the purpose of obtaining further information in support of my application………

    …..another states; i understand that i may be required to undertake a mobility assessment with a health care professional who is independent of my existing care and treatment, in order to determine my eligibility for a blue badge…………

    At the top of the page it states;

    Not ticking one of these declarations may mean we are unable to issue a blue badge……..

    What concerns me is that this is asked after i have ticked the box stating i am receiving the higher rate of mobility DLA.

    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,these bastards will stop at nothing to steal your benefits!!!!!!

    1. nick says:

      well Geoff i can’t walk far so i stay at home as there is no why i will be persecuted if I’m out and about with a blue badge and in pain with someone from the council or whoever following me around or a member of the public abusing me in the car park

      I will always put my dignity first despite my health carers say that i should apply for a blue badge

      It is just as well i have more discipline then most because of my age and if it means i have to live a prison type of environment in my home then so be it

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        Sad to hear how you feel Nick. One of my friends is in a similar position to you, they have hounded him from pillow to post and he has terrible scarring from operations on his spine, wrists and knees………………………

        He has become reclusive, stays in his house all the time, uses morphine based pain killers and is frightened to set foot outside his door.

        They stopped his benefits for so long it left him penniless. His girlfriends wages carried them through, but the trauma of being without, has changed him drastically.

        He lives in fear of being seen outside and sanctions put on his payments………….

        Sad, so sad, driven from a physical disability into a mental one…………………

  30. AL says:

    1 Aug 2013 – Which? report puts price of compensating customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance at £18.4bn.

    Does the Government the DWP and subsequently the HARD working taxpayer, have big deep pockets like the banks have?

    What would compensating the thousands of traumatised ESA claimants damaged by the WCA, and the bereaved families of those who have been hounded from their lives?

    Isn’t life more precious?

    These assessments are faulty, dangerous and costly the appeal process is overly long, stressful and expensive. It will be proved in time thay they are abusive.

    We need to tell our MPs, write to DWP ministers and give them our evidence. Let them know what is happening. Dealing with this madness is driving some of us from our wits at a time when mental health services are being cut. Mad or not, we need to tell them we will not condone this abuse and we will not suffer and die quietly.

    We will tell, keep telling and we will fight back.

    The farce that is the WCA is a national scandal.

  31. Trevor says:

    Reading some of the accounts of the shameful, cruel treatment being meted out to disabled claimants (Geoff’s being a good example), it comes as no surprise that compassion-free Britain’s latest bestseller is Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

    No doubt when the Fourth Reich rears its ugly head (cheered on by the likes of the Daily “Hurrah for the Blackshirts” Mail) the sick and disabled will be the first herded onto the cattle trucks destined for the gas chambers.

  32. geoff reynolds says:

    …………..just as i thought the DWP were being cornered for the incredible mortality rate of benefit claimants, guess who comes to there rescue?

    None other than Hayley from Coronation Street!!

    Yes, the historic reign of, one of the streets favourite characters, ends in suicide…………………………….

    There is expected to be a spate of copycat suicides and the question on everybody’s lips must be, “Can the DWP mask the suicides caused by ill thought out welfare policies, and blame them on unfortunate Hayley’s demise?

    …………….and the answer must be, of course they can!!!

    They deem the increase in foodbanks to be associated with the poor’s push for a freebee, rather than destitution, and the rise in evictions not being associated with bedroom taxes…………….

    Denial seems to be the “in policy” when dealing with state assisted executions via the welfare acts bearing the blessing of killer queen…………………

    Even the BBC seem to have weakened their stance on benefit bashing, tonight saw Paul O’grady expressing his own disgust at benefits street.

    Scousers despise what is happening and they distance themselves completely from such persons as Esther Mcvey, the most hated woman in politics (since Thatcher).

    Could the tide of decency be turning?

    …….just like the noose around Duncan Smith’s cowardly neck…

  33. geoff reynolds says:

    IN AN EFFORT TO HIGHLIGHT HOW CORRUPT THE DWP HAVE BECOME IN THE HIRING OF A RENEGADE COMPANY, ATOS, I WILL QUOTE THE FOLLOWING TWO STATEMENTS.

    BOTH ARE BY HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS HIRED BY THE DWP…………..

    05 JUNE 2007.
    JULIE SIMPSON, HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.

    PROGNOSIS;
    I ADVISE THAT THERE IS UNLIKELY TO BE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE PRESENT MEDICAL CONDITION OR THE FUNCTIONAL EFFECTS IN THE LONGER TERM.

    JUSTIFICATION OF ADVICE;
    THE INFORMATION ON FILE INDICATES NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE SINCE THE LAST EXAM.
    THE CLIENTS LEVEL OF DISABILITY IS UNLIKELY TO VARY SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE.
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    10 JULY 2012.
    EMMA BRODRICK. ATOS HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.

    ZERO POINTS AWARDED.

    FUNCTIONAL PROBLEMS.
    I ADVISE THAT A RETURN TO WORK COULD BE CONSIDERED WITHIN 3 MONTHS.
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    …………..and just to show the hippocracy of the DWP once again………..
    06 November 03.
    Dr. j. Rickinson.

    Condition is unlikely to improve.

    12 September 95.
    Dr. R. Colman.

    No significant change anticipated.

    19 September 95.
    Mr, A. Heaten.
    Adjudication officer.
    Incapable of all work.

    ………………………………………………………………………………

    Everybody has a right to require the DWP to furnish them with all the information that they hold.

    I would not have the records above, to fight my case, had i not requested them……………

    THREE ENVELOPES ARRIVED, THE FILES THEY HELD ON ME WERE OVER 7 INCHES DEEP.

    WHY DON’T YOU REQUEST YOURS TODAY?
    “ALWAYS SEND THE REQUEST IN WRITING, RECORDED, AS THEY WILL INSIST THEY NEVER RECEIVED IT OTHERWISE…….
    Reply

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      THOUGHT THE READERS WOULD LIKE TO SEE THIS ARTICLE ABOUT ATOS AND THE DWP GOVERNMENT CONTRACT, AND HOW IT WAS BROKERED TO CHEAT THE DISABLED OF THEIR MEAGRE PITTANCE OF BENEFITS ON WHICH THEY RELY, SO MUCH……………………………….

      http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree

      Leaked data suggests the Department for Work and Pensions is holding Atos to extremely tight tolerances. Photograph: Janine Wiedel Photolibrary/Alamy
      Ask Atos, the company responsible for executing the work capability assessment (WCA), or the Department for Work and Pensions, which defines how the WCA is conducted, and they will tell you that they have no targets for the number of people who pass. Yet a new report from the Centre for Welfare Reform, How Norms Become Targets, uses a leaked set of Atos data to suggest that the DWP is holding Atos to extremely tight tolerances on its results.
      Atos and the DWP admit to the existence of “statistical norms” and that these are used to manage the performance of individual healthcare professionals carrying out the assessments. Campaigners have long claimed that these norms function as de facto targets, but were surprised by the detail of the data logged and matched against acceptable ranges. Not only are there figures for overall numbers of people awarded the points needed to qualify for the employment and support allowance (ESA), figures also exist for individual prognoses, for the points awarded, even for the word count of the summary findings. And each Atos region is expected to stray no further than 20% from the national average.
      Combining any data-gathering system with pressure to meet expectations will drive staff to converge on the “official” numbers; norms will become de facto targets, and no manager wants to be forced to justify their region’s figures. Unfortunately pressure to meet expectations is exactly the process described to the Guardian by Atos whistleblower Dr Greg Wood, who went public after being repeatedly asked to change assessments, including at least one case that conflicted with his professional medical opinion.
      Whether the Atos data represents targets, as the CWR report suggests, or norms, as Atos insists, the numbers themselves are deeply problematic. An assessor is expected to see about 40 people per week, 65% of whom, the data shows, are expected to fail the assessment. The remainder will be split between the ESA support group (14.5%) and the work-related activities group (20.5%). Those who pass, in either group, are then further divided across five sub-groups, which specify whether an applicant should be expected to recover in six-24 months or “longer term” (in practice three years). Only 2.6% of WCAs are expected to result in a “longer-term” prognosis, which effectively means an assessor can allocate the prognosis to just one person a week; allocating a single extra person across a month hovers on breaching the allowed 20% variation. All other applicants, no matter their disability, are labelled as expected to have recovered within two years or less.
      This suggests an explanation for some of the stranger Atos rulings, where people with lifelong or degenerative disabilities have been told their conditions are expected to improve in six months. Any assessor struggling to keep down their average for longer-term prognoses has to be tempted to assign a shorter prognosis instead. Someone with a long-term disability should theoretically face an assessment once every three years, but if they are consistently assigned to the six-months prognosis group, they will potentially face not one but six assessments in that period.
      Similar problems exist for points awarded during the assessment. The “descriptors”, if matched, are worth six, nine or 15 points, and many disabled people will match multiple descriptors. It takes 15 points to qualify for the ESA, yet the report suggests national averages of 2.1 points for physical issues and 3.6 points for mental issues. The only way to maintain such low averages is by scoring several people at zero points for each one who passes. Are cases of people who score zero points when they clearly should pass simply evidence that the assessor saw too many seriously ill and disabled people that week? There is already an outcryover the state of the work capability assessment, with roughly one in six of all assessments successfully appealed against, at a cost to the Tribunals Service, and the taxpayer, of more than £75m per year. If that failure rate is not caused by poor quality work at the healthcare professional level but is a consequence of the Atos management system, which in turn is driven by the contractual requirements placed on it by DWP, then shouldn’t that outcry be louder still?

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        BILL GUNNYEON , CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE DWP SHOULD BE SACKED IMMEDIATELY, AN INQUIRY SET UP AND THE BENEFIT CLAIMANTS FULLY REIMBURSED AND COMPENSATED.

        THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO DIED, AS A CONSEQUENCE SHOULD ALSO BE COMPENSATED AND CRIMINAL CHARGES OF MANSLAUGHTER IN PUBLIC OFFICE, BROUGHT AGAINST THE DWP, GOVERNMENT MINISTERS AND ATOS……………….

  34. Stepping Razor says:

    Atos is not contracted with the dwp, they have left because of the dwp`s failure, which meant an atos failure not fit for purpose.

    What that means is every medical atos ever carried out is null & Void = has no meaning = not fit for purpose. That makes decisions atos made invalid. That also applies to the dwp

    What the dwp are doing now is putting disabled people on Income Surport because there is no medical people in the dwp.

    So there are no disabled just unemployed because the dwp have skipped any medical conditions.

    SR

  35. Stepping Razor says:

    It is not obligatory to fill out a form because more than one sort of form exists. Disabled people do not need to fill out an Income Support form because they are disabled & the Income Support Form does not apply to me. So it only applies to me if the dwp have no one at the dwp that has any medical qualifications. Cutting corners for targets & cash cows.

    So the dwp sent me the wrong form. It is obligatory that the dwp make mistakes of the simplest kind. It is also obligatory for the dwp to put things in writing, not cold calling on the phone.

    Once the dwp can write a letter [still waiting for almost a year] nothing has changed = My circumstances have not changed.

    Look within the workers at the dwp & jobcentre plus for benefit fraud dwp.

    SR

    1. AL says:

      DWP and ATOS make mistakes all the time but funnily enough during the WCA they they don’t feel the need to check info with the claimants before sending it to DWP. Shouldn’t they write stuff down, use our words and let us read and sign that its true? It’s in the little details, the translation from our words to theirs that so much becomes distorted, misleading and wrong. OK so there’s still their observations which they make sence of in the most judgemental fashion, but the info that come from our mouths, should that be subject to changes, just because the HCP is more comfortable with and understands better her own words? If there were more checking, the HCP would realise just how much they don’t know and how their assumptions are often truely mind boggling. How much of the £58m a year in tribunals could be saved if they let the claimant check what was written? Though frankly considering the ignorance of supposed heath care professinals is so truely staggering I guess it’s not a given. Just think if ATOS didn’t employ them they might be tempted to use their faulty knowledge to try to cure decent HARD working tax payers! If they made mistakes then, don’t you think there would be an outcry? Imagine the complaints with nearly 40% of those complaining found to have a case. Imagine the compensation costs. Thank heaven for ATOS soaking up the dregs of medical staff who aren’t safe to practice! It’s only scivers and scumbags who will mind and they don’t deserve better, do they?

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        When asked to do certain movements at my examination i tried but could not do them due to pain……………………
        However my ATOS nurse HCP, EMMA BRODRICK, recorded it as, “CLIENT DECLINED”
        Not once, not twice, but seventy five times!!!

        …………strangely, on the screen in front of her, the LIMA software showed a box that said unable to perform………

        The reason to put “client declined”, is obvious.
        It is used to make the claimant look as though they have refused to do what was asked, rather than not being able to…………….

        1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

          I was seen to sit in a chair, rise unaided, walk to a couch, get on it unaided, and stand for the whole duration of the examination in one place, holding my walking stick in my left hand……….

          ………takes some doing!!

  36. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ………….THE SEWERS OF PERVERSITY REACH THEIR CONFLUENCE AT THE GATES OF THE DWP AND SPREAD THEIR EFFLUENT AMONGST THE DEPARTMENTS WITHIN………..

  37. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    A jobcentre DWP OFFICER has been suspended after a dad of three was told to, “get a fucking job or hang yourself”

    It happened on a facebook rant. She claimed her account had either been hacked or her 14 year old son must have said it.

    ………….how could anyone doubt this lovely lady’s integrity?

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      JUST THOUGHT THAT SOME OF YOUR CONTRIBUTORS MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH TAKEN FROM AN INTERNAL MEMO THAT DWP CIRCULATED………………………

      IT CONCERNS THE DWP DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM ATOS HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS, WHEN IT WAS EXPOSED THAT THE MEDICAL REPORTS WERE SERIOUSLY FLAWED

      EMPs will no longer be available as a source of evidence
      (except for RPP cases). DMs may however use CCM guidance, Health and Wellbeing
      Directorate recognised internet sites such as Cancer Research UK and NHS Choices, the
      information in the claim form, request factual reports, ESA85 reports, care plans, information
      available from schools or social services. They can also telephone the claimant or carer,
      discuss the case with fellow DMs, colleagues, their HEO, or seek advice from DMA Leeds if
      the enquiry concerns applying the law to the established circumstances. This list is not
      exhaustive.
      ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

      AN EMP, (AS STATED IN THE FIRST LINE), IS AN EXAMINING MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, (ATOS HCP)…………………………………….

      THE MEMORANDUM SPECIFICALLY STATES THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE AS A SOURCE OF EVIDENCE!!!!!

      WHAT IT REALLY MEANS IS THE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS CARRIED OUT BY ATOS PERSONNEL HAVE NO RECOGNITION AS THE ANALYST DOES NOT HAVE THE MEDICAL EXPERIENCE TO FORMULATE SUCH A REPORT ON THE HEALTH OF A CLAIMANT…………….

      ……..in laymans terms;

      “THE WORK CAPABILITY ASSESSMENTS THAT ATOS PROVIDED FOR THE DWP ARE NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY ARE WRITTEN ON

      1. disabled-dave says:

        Hi Geoff,

        I’m going to e-mail my Tory MP to ask him why we are paying Atos £millions if they are no longer to be a source of information.

        I don’t suppose I will get things any clearer though; every time I contact him he sends a reply, but never actually answers any of my questions!

        However, being a stroppy person I intend to make my questions and his lack of answers public just before the next election.

        Hopefully a local paper will pick up the story and give a headline along the lines of “Useless MP failed to answer any of a constituent’s questions” which will leave him looking like a complete idiot.

        1. geoff reynolds says:

          ………you do right dave, put him in the hot seat and demand an answer.
          If there not good enough for the DWP, then they are not good for anybody else.

          On the strength of information that has found it’s way into the public domain recently,including poor quality reports, whistleblowers evidence and the DWP distancing its own staff from using ATOS hcp’s opinions, the reports are surely void.

          I have therefore, written a letter to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service and asked that my ESA hearing be thrown out as the evidence used to negate my payments has no integrity whatsover……

          Also, i challenged the independence of the courts, stating that as they carry the title, her majesty, and the Queen gave royal assent to the welfare reform acts 2012, there exists a blatant conflict of interest…

          furthermore, i accuse the courts of aiding and abetting the DWP to gain pecuniary advantage by deception by allowing esa cases to continue knowing the evidence is flawed.
          Recently the government announced that it would seek to find or create a qualification to give to a hcp, that would stand up in law.

          This must mean that the hcp, as it stands now, does not have the relevant qualification necessary to assess a claimant.

          No medical body recognise the hcp qualification, only the Secretary of State who endorsed the WCA examinations.

          I also accuse the courts, in tandem with the DWP, of breaching Equality 2013 Law by non recognition of “Protected Characteristics” afforded to disabled persons, adding they are also in clear breach of Human Rights Article 25.

          1. disabled-dave says:

            Hi Geoff,

            I can’t find anything about the Government’s seeking to find or create a qualification for an hcp. Can you give me a link so I can query my MP on that as well?

            1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

              It has been raised several times by several people but i am sure that it was said by IDS or Lord Fraud.
              Here is a comment by Sheila Gilmore MP, Edinburgh East…

              The training and qualifications held by HCP’s in disability assessment are not recognised by the European Qualifications (Health and Social Care Professions) Regulations 2007 or by any such legislation.

              1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

                THIS IS FROM ATOS’s OWN WEBSITE………

                …….notice the last lines!

                All our health care professionals (HCPs) must have 3 years post-registration clinical experience and must successfully complete a rigorous, comprehensive training process to provide WCAs in accordance with Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) legislation before they can be approved by DWP to work in this area. This is reflected in the fact that only a small percentage of applicants are successful. Our HCPs are specialists in disability analysis, focussing on the effects of a condition, not on the condition itself.

                FOCUSING ON THE EFFECTS OF A CONDITION, NOT ON THE CONDITION ITSELF…….

                “This is self explanatory, they know what they think you can do, but are unaware of why you might not be able to do it”

              2. AL says:

                I checked the registration of the nurse who assessed me and the HCP qualification is not mentioned. So I guess it’s irrelevant. She was a basic adult nurse. No extras. Full of importance she told me her specialism was in medical assessments. ie the ATOS training. I was nearly impressed til I realised she was rubbish at interviewing and or very inexperienced. Oh the arrogance of youth!

                I was still surprised at just how bad the report was when I finally received it. Don’t laugh it was my first time! It showed why a nurse with 3 year experience and a year with ATOS training and what not, was no where near competant to judge. She had no idea.

  38. Adrian Todd says:

    Well done jeff for bringing this to everyone’s attention shame this corrupt government are not taking note of it

  39. Stepping Razor says:

    HCP – Health Care Professional = No Medical Qualifications in medical matters.

    HCP – Help Company Profits.

    All our health care professionals (HCPs) must have 3 years post-registration clinical experience and must successfully complete a rigorous, comprehensive training process.

    Don`t mean any thing, just words strung together to make it look important.

    Help Company Profits – HCP

  40. Stepping Razor says:

    I want a job – So can the jobcentre plus help me find a job !!

    The jobcentre plus are not doing their job helping find a job – What work do you want me to do between pillar & post !!

    So the failed jobcentre plus staff are reported for not doing their job !!

    It is not a problem, it is only a problem to the jobcentre plus staff !!

    The only reason I can`t get a job is because the jobcentre plus is stopping me getting a job !!

    Who really runs & runs about in the jobcentre plus office !!!

    I want a job in strategy – Military – Disabled – many fields in strategy, maybe it will be in writing letters.

    HCP – Help Company Profits.

    HCP – Help Cashcow Profits.

  41. Stepping Razor says:

    Too get everyone off benefits [figures] it will cost a huge amount of millions of pounds. These people have not found work, but the figures show otherwise. To make things look good for the up & coming general election, one can go too far & it then becomes fraud. It is easy because they can`t remember what they said last week. Check the minutes – The Sheriffs Are Coming !!

  42. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ………..extract taken from staff bulletin to DWP internal departments on 7th Nov 2013, as highlighted in Daily Mirror;

    evidence to be obtained before a decision can be made on balance of probabilities.
    12. In exceptional circumstances, should all sources of evidence be exhausted and it is still not
    possible to reach a decision on balance of probabilities, the designated person may seek
    advice from ATOS using the DBD 385 via the medical evidence wizard.
    ………………………………………………………………………………

    …………..they are saying, the use of ATOS material in making a decision on a disabled persons claim, must only be used if every other avenue has been thoroughly exhausted…………….

    A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO ATOS WERE HERALDED BY THE DWP AS THE MOST HIGHLY TRAINED FIRE BREATHING DRAGONS OF THE HEALTHCARE WORLD.

    TODAY THEY ARE NOT EVEN ON THE BACK BURNER……

    NAMED AND SHAMED AS THE CHARLATANS THAT THEY REALLY ARE,
    “THE PRODUCT OF A STATE ENLISTED, DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE THAT HOLD NO CREDIBILITY WHATSOEVER, A SHAM IN EVERY RESPECT”

    …………a ruthless organisation that has brought about deaths in our community, sponsored by the DWP in collusion with another government department, Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service,

    “A FINELY HONED, WELFARE AND DISABILITY KILLING MACHINE”

  43. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    …………….BILL GUNNYEON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE DWP, LEADING FIGURE IN THE FACULTY OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE……………..

    “ALONG WITH A FEW WELL CHOSEN MINISTERS, THE ARCHITECTS OF THE WORST INDIRECT SLAYING OF DISABLED AND POOR PERSONS, THE U.K. HAS EVER SEEN”……….

    ………….hence the DWP’S decision not to monitor welfare mortality rates……..

    ………a cover up, an interdepartmental whitewash of deaths due to welfare reform reforms that carried the blessing of the Queen……………

    1. disabled-dave says:

      Yet another e-mail sent to my MP. Where is the last quote “along…..seen” from? I’d like to read the full article.

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        It is one of my quotes Dave.

        It is a passage that i can back up after doing so much background work, trawling through the archives and internet to uncover how a select few, well placed people in prominent positions, lobbied the government for change, at the behest of the American, UNUM CORPORATION.

        A corporation already fined millions of dollars in the U.S. for running a similar DISABILITY DENIAL scam, to the one here.

        The only difference being, the Courts and Tribunal services were not complicit in the U.S., as they are here, in tandem with the DWP.

  44. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    THE DWP’S BILL GUNNYEON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AND HIS LINKS TO THE WORLD OF PRIVATE HEALTHCARE;

    Employment History

    Chief Medical Officer
    DWP
    Chief Medical Adviser
    DWP
    Chief Medical Adviser, Medical Director and Chief Scientist To the Department
    Work and Pensions
    Director for Health, Chief Medical Advisor, Department
    Work and Pensions
    Chief Medical Officer for the Department
    Work and Pensions
    Director for Health Work
    The Westminster Business Forum
    President
    Faculty of Occupational Medicine
    Director for Health Work
    Department
    Director for Health
    GovNet Communications
    Chair
    Association of Local Authority Medical Advisers
    Medical Director
    Capita Health Solutions Ltd
    Director of Health Services
    Capita Health Solutions Ltd

  45. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A GENIUS TO SEE THAT THE DWP AND COURTS AND TRIBUNALS SERVICE ARE SHAFTING THE DISABLED AND POOR…………

    IT’S A COLLABORATION MADE I HEAVEN WHERE ONE DEPARTMENT ROBS YOU OF YOUR ENTITLEMENT THEN THE OTHER ONE ENDORSES IT.

    EQUALITY LAW GAVE THE DISABLED A STATUS OF HAVING A “PROTECTED CHARACTERISTIC” THAT OFFERED THE HOLDER A FORM OF PROTECTION FROM BEING BULLIED, BUT NEITHER OF THESE DEPARTMENTS GIVE A DAMN, RUTHLESSLY TREADING THE RIGHTS INTO THE GROUND…………

    WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A GIANT CULL OF THOSE OF US UNFORTUNATE TO HAVE A MENTAL OR PHYSICAL DISABILITY.
    THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE PAIN, SUFFERING AND DEATH.

    TO THESE TWO KILLERS, YOU ARE A MERE STATISTIC, A PAT ON THE BACK FOR SOME ARSEHOLE WILLING TO INFLICT PAIN
    HIDING IN AN OFFICE KOW-TOWING TO HIS SENIORS AS THEY ARE, IN TURN REWARDED FOR THEIR INHUMAN ACTIONS.

    ………….NOBODY NEEDS TO DIE, BUT YOU MY FRIENDS, OFFER THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTENCE!

    YOUR BODIES AND MINDS ARE ALREADY FRAIL AND CARRY THE HEAVIEST BURDENS, YET YOU ARE CONSIDERED A WORTHWHILE TARGET.
    IT REMINDS ME OF HUNTING FOR THREE LEGGED ANIMALS, TRAPPING THEM AND STATING THE MOST DECENT THING TO DO IS PUT THEM OUT OF THEIR MISERY…………………….

    ……………THE DWP AND COURTS AND TRIBUNALS SERVICE IS A STATE KILLING MACHINE, ONE ENDORSES THE OTHERS ACTIONS………

    HOW CAN IT BE FAIR THAT A BIASED ATOS MEDICAL REPORT IS USED TO STEAL YOUR BENEFITS WHEN IT ISN’T WORTH THE PAPER IT’S WRITTEN ON?

    MORE TO THE POINT, WHY ARE THE COURTS AND TRIBUNALS SERVICE ALLOWING HEARINGS TO GO AHEAD WHEN THE BASIS OF THE SANCTION WAS A SKEWED REPORT THAT GENERATED ON A ROGUE SOFTWARE DEVELOPED BY A DISABILITY DENIAL GROUP?

    THEIR IS ONLY ONE ANSWER, COLLUSION!……………..

    HOW CAN A COURT BE INDEPENDENT WHEN HANDLING AN ISSUE OF WELFARE, WHEN THE QUEEN GAVE ROYAL ASSENT TO THE WELFARE REFORM ACT OF 2012, AND THE COURTS CARRY THE TITLE OF ,”HER MAJESTY’S COURTS AND TRIBUNAL SERVICE?”
    IT’S JUST FARCICAL, IT IS NEITHER INDEPENDENT, FAIR OR JUST……………….

    IT’S A BIG CON TO ROB YOU OF THAT, WHICH HAS BEEN RIGHTLY GRANTED PREVIOUSLY.

    WHEN YOU ATTEND A COURT OR HEARING, YOU ARE TREATED LIKE DIRT AND SPOKEN DOWN TO……………

    YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HEARD BY YOUR PEERS AND THIS IS DEFINED IN ANY DICTIONARY AS SOMEONE OF EQUAL RANK OR MERIT.

    ALL THE BULLSHIT OF SWEARING ON A BIBLE, A DODDERY OLD FART IN A WIG AND A TEAM OF TOFFEE NOSED EDUCATED BARRISTERS IS SO FAR FROM THE THE REALITY OF A FAIR TRIAL, IT’S BEYOND BELIEF.

    MONEY BRINGS ABOUT JUSTICE, IT ALWAYS HAS AND IT ALWAYS WILL……………………

    ANDREW MITCHELL MADE NO MISTAKE WHEN HE USED THE WORD PLEB.

    YOU, MY FRIEND, SHOULD KNOW YOUR PLACE AND THIS IS DICTATED BY ONE THING ONLY, THE PECKING ORDER.

    THOSE SITTING NEAREST TO THE HEAD OF THE TABLE ALWAYS RISE ABOVE THOSE WHO ARE FED THE CRUMBS OF COMFORT………I MAY BE A PLEB BUT I HAVE AN OPINION.

    AN OPINION AS GOOD AS ANYONE, BUT STIFLED BY THE FACT THAT I SIT AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE TABLE FROM THE SERVER……………………..

  46. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    The DWP Decision Maker is God’s apprentice. He has been bestowed with the power to make a decision if you live or die.

    The link between you and the cemetery, indeed, thousands have already met untimely ends after being sanctioned.

    Power is like a drug, and to the misguided, exerts a feeling of superiority that transcends even the basis of a frugal existence.
    The greater the destruction the greater the buzz!

    Bit like a serial killer on steroids, hence the DWP’S reluctance to monitor the rising mortality rates.

    They post their mistakes in a plain brown envelope from an unknown office, from an unknown assailant shrouded in the mystery of not knowing the real effects of those they judge.

    We bury their mistakes…………………………

    Yet nobody is responsible for the indirect murders of the weakest, just another day at the office for these target driven assassins………….

    A mile and three quarters of coffins already and growing everyday………

    Death by discretion, the flick of a pen or the tick of a box?

    ………………..endorsed by the Secretary of State, THE SAME PERSON WHO AUTHORISED ATOS’S CULL OF THE DISABLED,

    “THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE WEAKEST AND MOST VULNERABLE”

    IAIN DUNCAN SMITH, DWP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WORKS AND PENSIONS,

    …………AN EVIL TWISTED KILLER, THE DECISION MAKERS, HIS DEPUTIES……….

  47. geoff reynolds says:

    ………………have you ever noticed how the DWP freely discriminate against the long term disabled by continually sending them on medical examinations?

    Ask yourself why it is allowed to happen?

    Under the terms of the Equality Act 2013, a disabled person is deemed to have “Protected Characteristics”.
    This status defines that your disability is offered a form of protection, one of them being, the right not to be discriminated against.

    How can it be, that a person who has a long term disability, that is, existing for more than 12 months, is the subject of multiple examinations, especially when the disability has been formerly recognised as unlikely to change in the forseeable future?

    I consider these actions as most discriminatory, a witch hunt of a person with an impairment that can lead to further untold anxiety and stress often exacerbating the original problems.

    How can it be right to attend a hearing at the courts and have a favourable decision, only to be told 3 months later you are to be subject to another examination?

    The collusion between the DWP and Courts and Tribunals enforces my perception of there being an interdepartmental discrimination taking place.

    Why should a disabled person attend an ESA tribunal based upon a wholly discredited ATOS report that was written by a, so called, Health Care Professional, whose credentials are not recognised by any true medical body?

    It’s bad enough when society starts to believe the poisoned rhetoric against disability and poverty, it’s even worse when the government are the root of the fetid onslaught and are prepared to steal benefits from those least likely to fight back………………..

    Evil is measured by the impact it has on an individual, the evil inflicted on the least deserving is immeasurable.

    People are speaking out against the hostility. I saw this article yesterday……………..

    Liverpool Council is reporting David Cameron to the United Nations, claiming that his government could be breaking international rules on keeping people out of poverty.
    Authority bosses believe the coalition – through its controversial policies such as the hated bedroom tax and welfare reform – could be in breach of the UN economic and social rights convention that sets out minimum standards for access to food, clothing and housing.

    Labour members from all parts of the city have spoken of the evidence they have gathered of people who were being forced into degrading poverty because they were being denied access to benefits they desperately needed.
    Many are ending up having to resort to what they said was effectively “begging” for food at food banks, the Liverpool Echo reports.
    At a meeting this week, councillors heard stories of people stripped of their dole money for up to 16 weeks because they had been late for interviews or had failed to meet the criteria of the government’s Welfare to Work programme.
    And they heard claims that in some job centres in the city, suspensions of benefits and other sanctions had risen by up to 500% since 2012.
    But the government has hailed the removal of benefits from people who “aren’t pulling their weight” as evidence that the “something for nothing” culture was being tackled.
    Cabinet member for children’s services in Liverpool Cllr Jane Corbett, who brought forward a motion along with Croxteth Cllr Barry Kushner, said: “We were elected to represent the people of Liverpool and speak up for them, fight for justice for them to make sure their voices are heard.”

    In a rare moment of cross-party unity, Lib Dem Cllr Pat Moloney said: “It is the moral purpose of government to protect its citizens … and to keep them out of hunger and worse.”

    1. geoff reynolds says:

      Letter to the ICC at the Hague Re Mistreatment of the Disabled and …
      https://you.38degrees.org.uk/…/letter-to-the-icc-at-the-hague-re-mistreat…‎
      Dear Mrs. Fatou Bensouda We are aware that Mr Samuel Miller has written to you to ask if it possible to file an ICC complaint against several British …

  48. Stepping Razor says:

    PIP is sanctioned by the dwp giving you a Income Support form to fill out. That is the problem with Means Tested, it can be twisted to mean 90% Income Support 10% because you are disabled. But on the yearly breakdown letter it has both – 90% because you are disabled & 10% Income Support.

    First the dwp want you to apply for PIP by filling in a Income Support Form, if the dwp feels you have medical grounds for PIP they will then give you another [public] form to fill out, if you pass the test on the Income Support form. Fake bypassing medicals to get a public form. You sent me the wrong form !!!

    Income Support means you are actively seeking work & ready to work at any time. It is a quick & easy way to do PIP with no medicals because no one at the dwp is medically qualified, so they dodge any thing medical & deny any medical conditions – by-passing costs & Atos.

    To apply for a disabled benefit does not mean filling out a income support form & then judged on if I can get a disabled form. Yet another form of fraud, blackmail & failures. The dwp don`t won`t to know about ones disability – just fill in the income support form. The dwp go about like there`s no other forms at the dwp.

    PIP is part of the Integrity Department of the dwp & their office keeps closing down, where ever that is.

    Start sending out real letters from the dwp with bar coding on each page !!

    SR

  49. geoff reynolds says:

    That’s right razor, they will stoop to any new low to steal your benefits…………….

    It’s a department in tatters, a dog chasing it’s tail.

    I am in the middle of a hearing tribunal for ESA after being denied any points at an ATOS medical, despite being awarded a lifetime disability award and receiving Industrial Injuries Benefit.

    The magistrate, a lady named, Naylor was extremely rude and talked down to me like a piece of dirt.

    You are always informed by the government web sites that you will be able to put your point of view across at a tribunal, this is wholly untrue, being a matter of speak when you are spoken to and nothing else…………………………….

    Despite putting lots of evidence forward, this is totally ignored and they follow their own agenda while you stand there dumbstruck.

    It’s another collaboration between the DWP and another government office, H.M.Courts and Tribunals, in effect………..

    ……………..”A TOTAL STITCH UP”

    Last week the magistrate adjourned the case to get medical reports from my doctor, the last time i went was 2009. Don’t they understand that i don’t need treatment every day, i have a physical impairment, not a disease! Tablets, creams and lotions won’t cure me, are they thick?

    Strange thing is that they already have in their possession all the information about me, my lifetime disability and medical reports and now they want to ask my doctor, despite the fact i have been registered disabled for the last fourteen years!

    Last week i wrote 2 letters to the Courts, one complaining about the evil, condescending attitude of Magistrate Naylor to a disabled person, and one asking that my case be thrown out of court because the whole case hinges on a biased ATOS medical report.
    I wrote that the DWP were trying to distance themselves, completely from ATOS.
    Whistleblowers had exposed how they cheated claimants and also, that the ATOS, HCP’S had no formal qualifications, recognised by any UK or European health body. They were in fact, charlatans recognised only by the Secretary of State……………….
    Furthermore, DWP Decision Makers have no medical background to be in a position to make a decision on a matter relating to health or disability, physical or mental.

    Stranger still, i had all my benefits taken from me by a so called Health Care Professional called EMMA BRODRICK, who held a certificate from a short course at a university.
    The doctors present at my original medical assessment tribunal had the following creditation;

    BSc MB CH3 FRCS

    MB BS(BOMBAY) DLO FRCS (ENG & ED).

    ………and yet the short course certificate was used to rob me of my entitlements………………

    1. geoff reynolds says:

      I WOULD ASK ANYONE ON THIS BLOG, WHO HAS UTTER CONTEMPT FOR THE WAY THE GOVERNMENT TREAT OUR POOREST AND DISABLED, TO GO ON THE 38 DEGREES SITE, TYPE IN SAMUEL MILLER AND SIGN THE PETITION……………………

      IT MUST BE IRKING THEM AS THEY KEEP REMOVING REFERENCES FROM THE INTERNET SITES…………..

        1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

          google; 38 DEGREES SAMUEL MILLER

          A LETTER TO THE HAGUE OUTLINING THE MISTREATMENT OF THE SICK AND DISABLED

          I WOULD ADVISE ALL TO SIGN IT……….

          1. AL says:

            Done and thanks.

            Keep trolling the depths Geoff, you seem to be able to find all sorts of unsavuory stuff down there. Looks like we need to open our eyes and pray we are not to late to ask for change. Keep positive too.

  50. Stepping Razor says:

    Employing disabled people is good for business – The dwp channel

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9EW3fLw_KQ

    The Prime Minister gave the keynote speech and launched the Disability Confident campaign.

    ————————————————————————-

    Simple people with simple catch phrases.

    1. AL says:

      Who are the ‘disabled’ minority who are so much more reliable than real people? I’m guessing the folks referred to are in work. But as an homogenious group what do we look like? It gets on my wick that IDS thinks we are all the same. Some people have a physical difference, adapt to it and move on, and they should have the chance to do so. Others have much more complex problems. The simplistic nonsence that is spouted out tells me they have absolutely no idea. Years of the WCA and they still are utterly clueless. It’s shameful. If the WCA was meaningful they would be completly aware of the needs of the longterm sick and disabled. Sadly they created a sham assessment and are still blissfully in the dark. Imagine me sitting here and raising my voice inarticulatly. Hard I know. How will employers ever get on board with employing us when the powers that be can’t tell them what the reality is? Testing since 2008 and they know nothing, because they are still in denial. Employers, for all their faults are unlikely to be too stupid to realise this.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      All employed by ATOS – Helping disabled people to make films about the dwp & atos HealthCare Professional Fraudsters.

  51. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    THE DWP ACTIVELY DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THEIR OWN DISABLED STAFF……………………

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to pay a woman with Asperger’s syndrome a total of £70,000 after an employment tribunal found the DWP to be guilty of disability discrimination. The DWP was found by the tribunal to have subjected the claimant to harassment due to her Asperger’s. The tribunal initially awarded damages to the claimant of £54,000 as compensation for constructive unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. In a further hearing, another £17,500 was ordered to be paid by the DWP for failing to comply with a re-employment ruling. (06/03/2013)

    http://www.croner-i.croner.co.uk/croner-

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      Judge Ian McFatridge said that the DWP had “treated the claimant
      extremely badly”.

      “We were required to take into account the fact that the claimant
      is psychologically unable to return to work with the respondents
      and that this is something which has been brought on by the
      respondents’ treatment of her,” he explained.

    2. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ………AND GUESS WHAT, THE LINK TO THE PAGE, HIGHLIGHTED IN BLUE, HAS MYSTERIOUSLY VANISHED………………………………..

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      They probably practised their demonisation of the disabled on this lady before unleashing it on the public………….

      THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THIS CASE IS THEY WERE INSTRUCTED TO RE-EMPLOY HER BUT REFUSED, INSISTING HER ASPERGERS MADE HER UNEMPLOYABLE…………….

      …………….and yet, ATOS WHO THE DWP EMPLOYED TO DO BOGUS MEDICALS, PASSED ASPERGERS CLAIMANTS AS FIT TO WORK………………

      DOUBLE STANDARDS ……………………..

  52. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ……….AND ANOTHER ONE FROM THE DWP AND ATOS!!!

    DON’T FORGET, IT’S NOT ATOS WHO MAKE THE DECISION ON A PERSONS ABILITY TO WORK, IT’S THE DWP DECISION MAKER WHO MAKES THE FINAL JUDGEMENT…………..

    YES, THE ONES WHO ARE GOOGLING MEDICAL CONDITIONS!

    Sheila Holt was sectioned after being taken off Income Support, days later she had a heart attack and fell into the coma – and is still being sent letters by assessors
    Atos………..

    A mentally ill woman forced on to the Coalition’s Work Programme is in a coma – but is still being sent letters by benefits assessors.

    Bipolar patient Sheila Holt, 47, was sectioned in December after being taken off Income Support. Days later she had a heart attack and fell into the coma.

    This weekend, Miss Holt, of Rochdale, Gtr Manchester, was sent a letter by Atos to ask why she was not working.

    Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sheila-holt-woman-told-find-3048449#ixzz2r9klg8IX
    Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

    1. AL says:

      But who has been responsible for training the DM? Yes of course it’s ATOS! And ATOS say they don’t make the decisions. They are splitting hairs me thinks.

  53. AL says:

    Of course people with Aspergers are fit for work, just no one wants to employ them. Same with a lot of us. Isn’t that the problem here? We can lift a conveniently placed empty box and press a button from time to time and hey presto, fit for work. Hurrah! Shame employers have higher standards and so many actual fit people to choose from. The likes of us are likely going to be unemployed a long time as we are passed by for better. The reality is, people like us are often hounded out of our jobs or can’t get contracts renewed once we have problems. The WCA has no basis in reality and sadly now we all know it. The DWP as employer is doing what many employers do, getting rid of ‘problems’ and as Decision Maker it’s saying ‘problems’ don’t exist. Me thinks DWP speaks with forked tongue. Oh and now employers will be even more scared at taking on different, coz they don’t want to get sued.

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      “SANCTIONS”

      ACCORDING TO THE LAWS SET DOWN IN THE GENEVA CONVENTION, THE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE IS BANNED, YET THE DWP BREACH THESE LAWS, EACH AND EVERY DAY…………

      THE DWP UTILISE A UNIT, APTLY CALLED THE “NUDGE UNIT”, THIS UNIT IS MORE APPROPRIATELY CALLED, A PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNIT.

      PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNITS ARE USED TO GENERATE POLICIES AND ACTIONS THAT CAN BE USED TO BREAK DOWN THE RESOLVE OF CLAIMANTS USING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TECHNIQUES.

      INDEED, RECENTLY, THE NUDGE UNIT WAS BROUGHT INTO LINE FOR USING PSYCHOMETRIC QUESTIONNAIRES ON CLAIMANTS THAT HAD NOT BEEN RATIFIED AND WERE CONDEMNED BY EXPERTS IN THE FIELD.

      The ‘test’ that the DWP ‘borrowed’, and is forcing unemployed people to take on pain of losing their benefits, was devised by a US psychologist alleged to have devised psychological-torture interrogation programmes for the US military and the CIA.

      The questions the DWP has ‘borrowed’ come from the ‘Values in Action Inventory of Strengths’ test devised by Christopher Peterson and Martin ‘Marty’ Seligman. In 2001, Marty Seligman allegedly convened a ‘counter-terrorism and psychology’ meeting at his home, attended by, among others, the alleged creator of the CIA torture program, Dr. James Mitchell, and CIA Director of Behavioral Sciences Research, Kirk M. Hubbard.
      But that the DWP and its contractors are using a test devised by a man who appears to be closely-associated with actual psychological torture by military and intelligence organisations makes the whole matter even more damning – and one that should be occupying the attention of Parliament and the media.

      UK CLAIMANTS ARE BEING USED IN AN EXPERIMENT, THEY ARE BEEN BROKEN DOWN, MADE TO FEEL WORTHLESS, UNCOMFORTABLE AND SADLY, SUICIDAL……………

      THE LEVELS OF STRESS THAT THIS ACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEBILITATION HOLDS, HAS NO BOUNDARY, AS EACH PERSON HAS A DIFFERING THRESHOLD TO THE AMOUNT OF PAIN IT CAN SUPPORT.

      WARPED THINKING BY THE DWP HAS SEEN THE DEATH LEVELS OF INNOCENT CLAIMANTS ROCKET.

      OUR GOVERNMENT IS COLLECTIVELY SUPPRESSING DEATH REPORTS ON THIS ISSUE, AFRAID OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIGURES COMING TO LIGHT.
      YET INSTEAD OF STOPPING AND ANALYSING THE EXTENT OF THEIR MISGUIDED EXPERIMENT, THEY PLOUGH ON, AFRAID TO CONFRONT THE DEMON THAT THEY HAVE CREATED………..

      SANCTIONING SOMEONE IS NOT ONLY A THREAT OR DETERRENT, IT IS ALSO A MEANS TO AN END, THE ABILITY TO SURVIVE OR DIE.

      WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A TWISTED DERANGED POLICY THAT KILLS…………

      THERE ARE REASONS WHY OUR GOVERNMENT SOUGHT TO USE SANCTIONS AS A FORM OF TORTURE, THE MAIN ONE BEING, IT LEAVES NO REAL VISIBLE SIGNS OF EVIDENCE……

      BEFORE THE USE OF SANCTIONS WERE INITIATED, OUR GOVERNMENT FAILED TO DO ANY PROPER CUMULATIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON THEIR USE.

      STRANGELY, I HAVE INTERVIEWED ONLY SIXTEEN PEOPLE FROM MY VARYING DISTRICTS OF MY TOWN WHO HAVE HAD SANCTIONS APPLIED AGAINST THEM, FIVE WERE DISABLED, THE OTHERS UNEMPLOYED…………….

      “EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD SUCCUMBED TO SUICIDAL THOUGHTS”

      I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NOR AN EXPERT, BUT I AM WITNESSING A CULL OF HUMAN BEINGS NEVER SEEN ON OUR SHORES BEFORE.

      …………A MURDER OF INDUSTRIAL PROPORTIONS.

  54. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “SANCTIONS”

    ACCORDING TO THE LAWS SET DOWN IN THE GENEVA CONVENTION, THE USE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE IS BANNED, YET THE DWP BREACH THESE LAWS, EACH AND EVERY DAY…………

    THE DWP UTILISE A UNIT, APTLY CALLED THE “NUDGE UNIT”, THIS UNIT IS MORE APPROPRIATELY CALLED, A PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNIT.

    PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING UNITS ARE USED TO GENERATE POLICIES AND ACTIONS THAT CAN BE USED TO BREAK DOWN THE RESOLVE OF CLAIMANTS USING BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE TECHNIQUES.

    INDEED, RECENTLY, THE NUDGE UNIT WAS BROUGHT INTO LINE FOR USING PSYCHOMETRIC QUESTIONNAIRES ON CLAIMANTS THAT HAD NOT BEEN RATIFIED AND WERE CONDEMNED BY EXPERTS IN THE FIELD.

    The ‘test’ that the DWP ‘borrowed’, and is forcing unemployed people to take on pain of losing their benefits, was devised by a US psychologist alleged to have devised psychological-torture interrogation programmes for the US military and the CIA.

    The questions the DWP has ‘borrowed’ come from the ‘Values in Action Inventory of Strengths’ test devised by Christopher Peterson and Martin ‘Marty’ Seligman. In 2001, Marty Seligman allegedly convened a ‘counter-terrorism and psychology’ meeting at his home, attended by, among others, the alleged creator of the CIA torture program, Dr. James Mitchell, and CIA Director of Behavioral Sciences Research, Kirk M. Hubbard.
    But that the DWP and its contractors are using a test devised by a man who appears to be closely-associated with actual psychological torture by military and intelligence organisations makes the whole matter even more damning – and one that should be occupying the attention of Parliament and the media.

    UK CLAIMANTS ARE BEING USED IN AN EXPERIMENT, THEY ARE BEEN BROKEN DOWN, MADE TO FEEL WORTHLESS, UNCOMFORTABLE AND SADLY, SUICIDAL……………

    THE LEVELS OF STRESS THAT THIS ACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEBILITATION HOLDS, HAS NO BOUNDARY, AS EACH PERSON HAS A DIFFERING THRESHOLD TO THE AMOUNT OF PAIN IT CAN SUPPORT.

    WARPED THINKING BY THE DWP HAS SEEN THE DEATH LEVELS OF INNOCENT CLAIMANTS ROCKET.

    OUR GOVERNMENT IS COLLECTIVELY SUPPRESSING DEATH REPORTS ON THIS ISSUE, AFRAID OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE FIGURES COMING TO LIGHT.
    YET INSTEAD OF STOPPING AND ANALYSING THE EXTENT OF THEIR MISGUIDED EXPERIMENT, THEY PLOUGH ON, AFRAID TO CONFRONT THE DEMON THAT THEY HAVE CREATED………..

    SANCTIONING SOMEONE IS NOT ONLY A THREAT OR DETERRENT, IT IS ALSO A MEANS TO AN END, THE ABILITY TO SURVIVE OR DIE.

    WHAT YOU ARE WITNESSING IS A TWISTED DERANGED POLICY THAT KILLS…………

    THERE ARE REASONS WHY OUR GOVERNMENT SOUGHT TO USE SANCTIONS AS A FORM OF TORTURE, THE MAIN ONE BEING, IT LEAVES NO REAL VISIBLE SIGNS OF EVIDENCE……

    BEFORE THE USE OF SANCTIONS WERE INITIATED, OUR GOVERNMENT FAILED TO DO ANY PROPER CUMULATIVE IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON THEIR USE.

    STRANGELY, I HAVE INTERVIEWED ONLY SIXTEEN PEOPLE FROM MY VARYING DISTRICTS OF MY TOWN WHO HAVE HAD SANCTIONS APPLIED AGAINST THEM, FIVE WERE DISABLED, THE OTHERS UNEMPLOYED…………….

    “EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD SUCCUMBED TO SUICIDAL THOUGHTS”

    I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NOR AN EXPERT, BUT I AM WITNESSING A CULL OF HUMAN BEINGS NEVER SEEN ON OUR SHORES BEFORE.

    …………A MURDER OF INDUSTRIAL PROPORTIONS.

  55. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    google; 38 DEGREES SAMUEL MILLER

    A LETTER TO THE HAGUE OUTLINING THE MISTREATMENT OF THE SICK AND DISABLED

    I WOULD ADVISE ALL TO SIGN IT……….

  56. nigel simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – WHO RUNS THE UK
    We the Electorates main perception of UK Politics & Politicians is that they basically rule us ,but do they ?
    We have Davnos the World Economic Forum ,The European Union and the G20 summits .Davnos was formed in 1971 by a German and have annual meetings held by the Global Political and Business Elite .Their 2011 meeting was the “Great Transformation” .At that meeting Cameron called for a “tough, transparent approach” to enforce the EU’s single market – a move he said would bring billions of euros to Europe .
    The European Union started in 1951 and has throughout its existence Standardised a System of Laws that apply in all Member States .
    The G 20 was formulated for the Cooperation & Formulation on matters concerning the International Financial system .It started by the four largest World Economies at that time the USA ,Britain ,Germany and France .
    So what have we the Public throughout Europe gained from these Elite Policy Making Annual Directives . 85 Richest People In World Own As Much As 3.5 Billion Poorest .In the UK Poverty has increased .Wages stagnant .Prices increased .Food Banks a necessity and Cameron refusing EU Aid to assist them but bragged in the Commons on Wednesday that Britain was the Biggest Syrian contributor .Misguided deluded or just pig ignorant of the state of the UK .
    http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

    1. disabled-dave says:

      And Idiot Dunked in Shit walks smirking from a debate on food banks whilst the Tories laugh at stories of people fighting for the cut price food in Tescos:

      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/iain-duncan-smith-leaves-commons-debate-on-food-banks-early-9013917.html

      Our situation is so desperate that the EU offers aid to the poorest, but the Tories turn it down:

      http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/antieu-tory-ideology-trumps-the-needs-of-the-poor-after-government-rejects-eu-fund-for-food-banks-9026138.html

      Yet this doen’t seem to have made the BBC news. Funny that because it made the Russian TV news:

      http://rt.com/news/uk-refuses-eu-help-467/

      The only thing that I can find on the BBC website is this extract from the “Daily Politics” show; watch Andrew Neil charging in and Mark Hoban squirming under the assault:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24046099

      Hoban seems to think that it is terrible that the number of people using food banks went from 4,000 to 41,000 under Labour (a rise of only 37,000 so less than half of the average crowd at a Manchester United game in 2012-13), but there is apparently nothing wrong with the fact that it has now reached 350,000 and is still rising fast. That’s an increase of 309,000 or equal to the ENTIRE poulation of Coventry!

  57. GEOFFREY REYNOLDS says:

    …..SIMPLY PUT, THE P.C.S., THE UNION THAT EXISTS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT FOR WORKS AND PENSIONS, HAS LESS BACKBONE THAN A JELLYFISH………………..

    THE PUBLIC AND SERVICES UNION, ARE MERE PUPPETS OF A TWISTED, HEINOUS STRATEGY THAT IS KILLING INNOCENT VICTIMS, BY THE THOUSANDS.

    IT’S A BIT LATE FOR THEM TO BE SHOWING SLIGHT CONCERN FOR THE ROCKETING NUMBERS DISAPPEARING FROM OUR STREETS BY EXPOSING DWP GOVERNMENT TARGETS, FOR WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING IS A STATE SPONSORED KILLING MACHINE.

    EACH AND EVERY MEMBER OF THIS UNION HAS TAKEN PART IN A CULL OF THE POOREST AND WEAKEST.

    IT’S NO GOOD BEING PART OF A UNION JUST TO ACT AS ONE AND NEGOTIATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR YOUR MEMBERS, YOU ALSO HAVE A MORAL AND ETHICAL DUTY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC WHO PAY YOUR WAGES……………

    MORE AND MORE DOCUMENTATION IS COMING INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN ABOUT THE WAR OF ATTRITION STAGED AGAINST THE VULNERABLE.

    THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT SEEM TO BE, LIE ,CHEAT AND STEAL AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY………

    COULD YOU HONESTLY FACE THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST ONE, AS A DIRECT RESULT OF A MISGUIDED SANCTION?

    I DOUBT IT!

    MORTALITY RATES ARE BEING WITHHELD. THE MORTALITY RATES ARE A TRUE GRAPH OF THE EXTENT OF BLOOD ON YOUR UNIONS HANDS…………..

    RUNNING SHY AND CLAIMING YOU WERE ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS WAS THROWBACK FROM THE NAZI’S, DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE THIS ONSLAUGHT OF INNOCENT VICTIMS?

    I THINK NOT……….

    TARGETS HAVE NO PLACE WHEN ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF A HUMAN BEINGS EXISTENCE, IT IS THE WORK OF A CORRUPT SOCIETY.
    THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE IS MEASURED BY HOW IT TREATS ITS WEAKEST, NOT THE EVIL DEALT ON THOSE WITH THE LEAST RESOLVE.

    THE P.C.S. HAS MENTIONED THAT ITS MEMBERS HAVE BEEN USING TARGETS TO SANCTION PEOPLE ON JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE, YET NO MENTION OF THE SANCTION AGAINST THE DISABLED WITH BOTH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PROBLEMS?

    ARE THEY EASY PREY, MAIMED AND LESS LIKELY TO FIGHT BACK?

    CORRUPT HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS TAKING PRECEDENT OVER GENUINE DOCTORS, DECISION MAKERS OF YOUR UNION ACTING IN THE BIGGEST DISABILITY DENIAL OF ALL TIME…….

    SEARCH YOUR MEMBERS CONSCIENCES……………

    WHEN WILL THE WANTON CARNAGE OF OUR NATION STOP?

    THE P.C.S. HAS THE KEY TO UNLOCK ALL THAT IS HAPPENING, COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND SPEAK BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE……….

    IS A PERSONS LIFE REALLY WORTH AN EASTER EGG OR A MARKS AND SPENCER’S VOUCHER?

    “WITHIN YOUR UNION, IT SEEMS SO”

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ONCE AGAIN, THE DWP, DISABILITY WELFARE PARIAH’S, ARE SPOUTING SHIT THROUGH THEIR “COCK IN THE MOUTH COLLEAGUES”,
      THE BBC, GENERAL PATTON;S PROPAGANDA PUPPETS!

      THE SPIN DOCTORS OF THIS STATE SPONSORED KILLING MACHINE ARE ABOUT AS HONEST AS AN ATOS MEDICAL REPORT!

      TWISTING THE TRUTH IS EASY WHEN YOU CONTROL THE DUMBFUCKS
      OF THE HAND IN POCKET MEDIA.

      THIS IS THE BBC HEADLINE;

      The DWP claims 980,400 people – 32%, of new applicants for Employment and Support Allowance – were judged capable of work between 2008 and March 2013.

      …………NEW APPLICANTS, MY ARSE!!!!!

      THE PEOPLE WHO WERE IN RECEIPT OF SICKNESS BENEFITS RECEIVED A LETTER INFORMING THEM THAT THEIR OLD BENEFITS HAD CEASED TO EXIST AND THEY WOULD HAVE TO RE-APPLY FOR A NEW ESA BENEFIT THAT WOULD REPLACE IT.

      A QUESTIONNAIRE WAS SENT TO EXISTING CLAIMANTS ASKING ABOUT THEIR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS AND THEY WERE THEN ASKED TO ATTEND A MEDICAL, BY THE NOW NOTORIOUS, ATOS HEALTHCARE.

      A DISABILITY DENIAL UNIT THAT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY SHITHOUSES LIKE BILL GUNNYEON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE DWP AND HIS TWISTED NETWORK OF CRONIES FROM THE FACULTY OF OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE.

      BOLSTERED BY THE EFFORTS OF A SELECT NUMBER OF PROMINENT MEMBERS OF OUR GOVERNMENT, IN TANDEM WITH HEALTH INSURANCE GIANT, UNUM CORPORATION OF AMERICA,

      FORMERLY CHARGED WITH DISABILITY DENIAL LAWSUITS IN THE USA, THEY SET OUT TO CRUCIFY THE DISABLED OF THE U.K.

      SADLY, THE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SPEAKING OUT, BUT IN AN EFFORT TO QUELL THE GROWING TIDE OF DISSENT, OUR GOVERNMENT HAVE SOUGHT TO TRY AND INTRODUCE GAGGING OF ITS PEOPLE……………………………..

      OUR LAWS ARE NO LONGER TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF OUR NATION, THEY ARE BEING REWRITTEN TO HIDE THE ANTICS OF THE WEALTHY ELITE FROM SCRUTINY……………………

      ASK YOURSELVES, WHY IS THE DWP ONLY TOO GLAD TO HERALD IT’S ACHIEVEMENTS, YET COWER TO HIDE THE GROWING MOUNTAIN OF CORPSES LEFT IN ITS ASSAULT ON THE POOREST, WEAKEST AND DISABLED?

      OUR QUEEN, OUR MONARCH, IS THE BIGGEST WELFARE SCROUNGER THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER KNOWN!

      THE STATE SUPPORTS THIS FAMILY OF NOBLE “INBREDS” WHILST SHAFTING EVERYBODY ELSE…………………….

      ON THIS PLATFORM, I GEOFFREY REYNOLDS, CHALLENGE YOU, IAIN DUNCAN SMITH, TO AN OPEN FISTED CAGE FIGHT………..

      I MAY BE DISABLED, BUT THE HATE AND ANGER THAT I HOUSE WITHIN MY FRAIL BODY WILL PUT YOU TO SHAME ANYDAY!

      “YOU ARE BUT A COWARD LIVING WITHIN THE BODY OF A MAN”

      WHY NOT TAKE UP MY CHALLENGE AND LET THE WORLD SEE WHAT A CRAVEN JELLY OF A MAN YOU REALLY ARE?

      HAVING BODYGUARDS IS NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT, IT’S NOT A MATTER OF SOCIAL PROMINENCE, YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SIMPLE SCUMBAG WHO MILLIONS WOULD LIKE TO SEE ERADICATED…………….

      TAKE UP MY CHALLENGE, I DARE YOU?

      I WILL FIGHT YOU FOR THE RELEASE OF THE TRUE MORTALITY RATES YOUR DEPARTMENT HAS INFLICTED, THE ONES HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC VIEW.

      THE FINAL NAIL IN YOUR COFFIN…………….

      ……………and maybe the reason that i am being paid only £32.30 per week, disabled for life………………………..

  58. disabled-dave says:

    Just spotted something else in that BBC report…

    The figures show that 980,400 or 32 % of applicants were found fully fit to work. Another 467,400 were found capable of working with support, so that’s another 15 %. This means that the Government are claiming that 47%, nearly HALF, of all applicants for disability benefits do not have a disability that would stop them working!

    If Atos and the DWP are that good at curing people perhaps they should run the NHS. That would save a hell of a lot of money if they can cure half the patients just by looking at them and filling in a form!

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      It`s all fiddle the unemployment figures. Since almost all have not found a job, the figures are in a holding so as to be used in a good light. The question the DWP like avoiding is how many disabled people have now got jobs !! It is different than how many disabled people have found a job !! Work Related Activity Group WRAG are employed by jobcentre plus so are not on benefits but are in work – WRAG !!

    2. AL says:

      Disabled Dave, I’ve been wondering, respectfully, obviously, in the light of all these ATOS miracles whether you will be soon changing your name to ‘Dave’? Or even ‘Dave, (formerly known as Disabled Dave’) so as not to confuse your chums?

      1. disabled-dave says:

        If I drop the “disabled” I’ll have to change to “Miracle man cured by Mr Idiot Dunked in Shit”

        As I reported in my comment above replying to Nigel Simmons, IDS walked out of the debate on food banks; given that he can perform such miracles in curing the sick and disabled I’m surprised he didn’t do a miracle on himself and just levitate.

        1. AL says:

          Mm I see the problem. Couldn’t have anything to do with the man myself. He makes my skin crawl ugh!

  59. Stepping Razor says:

    Benefits Street: Seven charged with drug offences

    Seven people have been charged with drug dealing offences after raids on James Turner Street in Birmingham.

    Six of those charged live in the road – the subject of the Channel 4 documentary series Benefits Street – and one lives in Handsworth.

    Officers said they recovered class A and B drugs during the raids in June. The raids came after concerns were raised locally, police said.

    The defendants are due to appear before Birmingham magistrates on 6 February.

    bbc news:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-25894192

  60. geoff reynolds says:

    THE STABBING OF A WHEELCHAIR BOUND MAN AND THE THEFT OF HIS POSSESSIONS DRAW A SIMILAR, SINISTER PARALLEL TO WHAT THE DWP ARE DOING TO OUR OWN PEOPLE………

    HE HAD HIS PHONE AND VALUABLES STOLEN. OUR DISABLED HAVE HAD THEIR LIVELIHOODS STOLEN……..

    WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GETTING A HIRED THUG, ATOS HEALTHCARE, TO STEAL BENEFITS FROM A DISABLED AND ACTUALLY STABBING THEM IN THE FACE?

    THE OUTCOME IS THE SAME!

    OUR GOVERNMENT POLICY OF DIVIDE AND RULE ACROSS THE CLASSES, HAS MADE THESE INCIDENTS ACCEPTABLE.

    BY LYING, CHEATING AND STEALING FROM OUR MOST VULNERABLE, THE POOR AND DISABLED, IT SENT A SIGNAL TO THE MASSES THAT THIS WAS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE AND COULD BE MIMICKED ALONG THE CHAIN…………

    DISABLED ARE NOW SPAT AT, ASSAULTED, TIPPED FROM THEIR MOBILITY VEHICLES ON A REGULAR BASIS.
    THE GOVERNMENT MINISTERS SUCH AS DUNCAN SMITH AND McVEY ARE THE TRUE ARCHITECTS OF EVIL.

    WHAT THIS COUNTRY IS WITNESSING IS NO DIFFERENT TO WHAT WENT ON IN NAZI GERMANY, THE ASSAULTS AND HATRED WERE DIRECTED AT THE JEWS IN THE SAME AS WHAT IS HAPPENING ON OUR SHORES.

    LIKE IT OR LUMP IT, THE HATRED IS RUNNING OUT OF CONTROL………….

    IT’S EASY TO INCITE TENSIONS, JUST STAND IN A FOOTBALL MATCH AND SHOUT LET’S KILL THE BASTARDS IN THE BLUE SHIRTS, SOME IDIOT WILL FOLLOW!

    OUR CONDEMN GOVERNMENT ARE FANNING THE FLAMES OF HATRED BY ALLOWING SUCH MEANINGLESS CRAP AS BENEFITS STREET ON OUR SCREENS.

    THEY NEVER OBLIGE THE POOR BY SCREENING MEMBERS OF OUR ROYAL FAMILY BLASTING THOUSANDS IN ONE NIGHT AT AN EXCLUSIVE NIGHTCLUB OR BANKERS AND HEDGE FUND MANAGERS ORDERING PRICELESS BOTTLES OF PLONK.

    YOU, MY FRIENDS, ARE PAWNS IN A LARGE GAME THAT IS TAKING DEMOCRACY FROM THE PEOPLE AND HANDING IT TO THE CORPORATE GIANTS.
    IT HAS NOT JUST HAPPENED, IN FACT IT IS NEARLY ACHIEVED….

    NEVER THINK YOU ARE PART OF A PARLIAMENTARY VOTE, THE CITY FAT CATS HAVE ALREADY PAVED THE WAY FOR ANYTHING THEY WISH. LOBBYING AND BACK HANDERS ARE THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND ALL GOVERNMENTS.

    THE HIDDEN MORTALITY RATES ARE THE PRICE WORTH PAYING TO ACHIEVE THESE FETID GOALS……………

    ONE DAY, WHEN IT’S TOO LATE, YOU WILL START TO REALISE WHY WE ARE DEMONISED IN SUCH A WAY.

    HISTORY HAS A WAY OF REPEATING ITSELF, THIS IS THE START OF THE “NEW HOLOCAUST”

  61. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    TODAY HERALDS THE FIRST DAY OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO KILL SOMEBODY WITHOUT THE AUTHORITIES BOTHERING TO FOLLOW IT UP…………………..

    OVER 14,000 people have died under the terms of the WELFARE REFORM ACT, YET NOBODY IS BLINKING AN EYEBROW!!!!!

    STATE KILLING IS NOW THE NORM, IT IS NEVER INVESTIGATED BECAUSE THIS TREND IS NOW ACCEPTABLE………………………..

    WHY NOT FOLLOW SUITE AND KILL SOMEBODY TODAY?

    THE POWERS THAT BE HAVE BEEN BRIEFED TO, LOOK THE OTHER WAY………………….

    BUMP SOMEBODY OFF, NOW,

    IT’S THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME……………

    MURDER WITHOUT RECOURSE………………………….

    1. AL says:

      Hate to burst your bubble Geoff, but on account of us all being lazy scroungers here, how do you think we are gonna catch a striver? Frankly I’m gonna have difficulty getting out to bump off some poor sod, comatosed and living on life support!

      Unless you have a cunning plan?
      I do agree it’s a grand opportunity for those who do have murderous inclinations.

      I’m still wondering if anyone is gonna turn out for the ATOS demo on Feb 19th? Once again we need to ask our long suffering friends and family to support us. Can they offer a lift? Wave a placcard? If we turn up and no-one else does I’m thinking we should sprinkle ashes in rememberance of those who have died and will be with us in spirit. I think even if I stand alone, there will still be 14000 is it now? who will stand by me in support. No-one should forget that.

  62. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    …………killing on an industrial scale has now become acceptable.

    if the DWP can do it, anyone can!

    Just pick somebody who you consider is not worthy of a life an exterminate them……………….

    Our government do it, day in , day out, and nobody gives a tiny fuck………………..

  63. disabled-dave says:

    BBC Question Time is coming to a town near me and I’ve applied to be in the audience: you have to offer two questions and mine are to do with:
    1/ the campaign to get IDS charged with crimes against humanity.
    2/ the death reported to 4UP of a man whose benefits were stopped due to DWP error as reported by Geoff above.
    So fingers crossed everyone. If I get on I won’t pull my punches in attacking IDS, the DWP, and Atos.

    1. nick says:

      you have no chance whatsoever getting on any bbc program with that type of direct questioning sad to say

  64. AllenVincent489 says:

    I’m an effective disability activist. Please see my torture pictures of Canterbury, Doncaster and Margate Police Cells, all within one year.

    http://telly.com/1HA3W5B plus http://telly.com/1HC7DYD and http://telly.com/1HDT9ZJ

    My brave 76yo Mum’s youtube is at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxcVVw4HgHwFTJfhMMFfCg

    This is us being interviewed by famous artist taxi driver on 10.10.2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdPaF4ipHk0

    http://telly.com/AllenVincent489 so much is being covered up. Good luck people.

  65. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ………….and now a deaf and dumb man has bean beaten up after his assailants asked him directions.

    When he tried to communicate using sign language they decided he was worthy of a good kicking.

    SOWING THE SEEDS OF HATE AGAINST DISABLED IS THE NEW SPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT HENCHMEN, THE D.W.P…….

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      HANSARD QUOTATION 13 JAN 2012;

      Ian Mearns: It has come to my attention through research conducted by several disability campaign groups that as many as four people a day are dying within six weeks of being declared fit for work under the Department’s work capability assessment. Will the Secretary of State reflect on those figures? When he finds them to be true, as they are based on his Department’s data, will he come back to the House and apologise to the families of the deceased, who suffered unnecessarily in their last precious days? We can recuperate benefits that are awarded incorrectly, but we cannot recuperate a person’s life.

      1. disabled-dave says:

        Nice of him to raise the matter in Parliament, but he needs to get his figures right. The FOI request established 10,600 such deaths in an 11 month period which works out at just under 32 people per day. Does anyone know his e-mail? I’m happy to send him the details.

  66. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    ……………ON SUNDAY I PRESENTED MY FRIENDS WITH A TYPED SCENARIO OF A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DISABLED PERSON.

    EACH ONE HAD THE SAME SONGSHEET TO SING FROM, EACH ONE HAD EXACTLY THE SAME INFORMATION TO HAND……….

    I PHOTOCOPIED A DWP QUESTIONNAIRE, HOW YOUR DISABILITY AFFECTS YOU, IT IS THIRTY FIVE PAGES IN LENGTH.

    TO EACH ONE, I GAVE A COPY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE AND SAID, “YOU ALL HAVE THE SAME INFORMATION, FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE…………

    NOT ONE QUESTIONNAIRE CAME BACK ANYTHING LIKE ANY OF THE OTHERS, IN FACT THE VARIATION IN ANSWERS WAS TOTALLY INCOMPREHENSIBLE……….

    THE REASON I DECIDED TO DO THIS WAS TO PROVE A THEORY, THE THEORY BEING THAT NO TWO HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS, OR DOCTORS FOR THAT MATTER, WOULD GIVE THE SAME DIAGNOSIS WHEN PRESENTED WITH THE SAME SYMPTOMS………

    A QUESTIONNAIRRE ISSUED BY THE DWP WILL NEVER PORTRAY A TRUE PROGNOSIS OF ANYONES PROBLEMS, THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE SENT IS TO DENY BENEFITS.

    ESTHER MCVEY TOLD PARLIAMENT THAT EXISTING DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE HOLDERS WOULD NOT BE CALLED UPON TO UNDERGO PIP MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS UNTIL OCTOBER 2015, UNLESS A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE WAS REPORTED…..

    WHAT WE ARE SEEING NOW IS CLAIMANTS BEING SENT A QUESTIONNAIRE AND REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS REPORTED, A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCES IS RECORDED, THUS FORCING THE CLAIMANT TO GO TO A PIP TEST EARLY.

    THE PIP TEST IS EXACTLY LIKE AN ATOS MEDICAL, IT HAS TARGETS AND THE OUTCOME WILL BE A LOWERING OF BENEFIT OR A COMPLETE LOSS ALTOGETHER…………

    IF THERE ARE NO TARGETS, HOW IS IT THAT MCVEY PREDICTED THAT 600.000 WOULD LOSE OUT?

    THE ONLY WAY TO ACHIEVE AN OUTCOME OF THIS PROPORTION IS TO MANIPULATE THE TESTS BEFOREHAND THEREFORE, DESPITE THE LIES THEY SPOUT, YOU WILL BE SHAFTED!

    HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED HOW THE DWP ARE ALWAYS LACKING WHEN IT COMES TO RELEASING ANY FIGURES ON ESA OR PIP OR EVEN THE MORTALITY FIGURES OF THEIR HEINOUS DEEDS….

    THE REASON IS SIMPLE, THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THEY HAVE STOLEN IS AN EMBARRASSMENT, AS IS THE DEATH TOLL!

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ONE POT ATOS

      TWO POT ATOS

      THREE POT ATOS

      FOUR,

      WE’VE KILLED FOURTEEN THOUSAND

      I WONDER HOW MANY MORE?.

    2. AL says:

      The embarrssment must also be the Paltry amount of money they have saved againts the vast amounts that they have spent and are continuing to spend.

  67. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “COMMONWEALTH GAMES INSULT TO ATOS VICTIMS”

    IT’S NO GOOD TRYING TO HAND OVER AN OLIVE BRANCH TO THE COMMUNITY OF THE DISABLED, WHEN YOO HAVE BEEN A KEY ADMINISTRATOR AND PROJECT MANAGER RESULTING IN THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS……………..

    AND YET THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE COMMITTEE OF THE GLASGOW 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES ARE SEEKING TO DO.

    WHO WOULD HAVE THE GAUL TO INSULT THE VICTIMS OF IT’S HEINOUS CRIMES AGAINST THE WEAKEST, ONLY ATOS……

    ATOS ARE THE MAIN SPONSOR OF THIS EVENT, THE SAME SPONSORS OF THE PARALYMPIC GAMES WHERE IDIOT OSBORNE WAS CONTINUALLY BOOED.

    I AM NOT THAT INTELLIGENT, BUT I DO KNOW A BIT ABOUT ETHICS AND MORALITY………

    FIVE THOUSAND TICKETS ARE TO BE DISTRIBUTED, FREE, TO GOOD CAUSES, INCLUDING THE DISABLED…..

    ANY DISABILITY ORGANISATION LOW ENOUGH TO ACCEPT THESE, ARE THE LOWEST OF THE LOWEST IN MY EYES, MIND YOU, PLENTY OF THEM ARE NOW FIRMLY IN THE GOVERNMENTS ARSE POCKET!

    “ATOS SPONSORED GAMES ARE TANTAMOUNT TO HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS BEING INVITED TO A RAVE ORGANISED BY THE SS”

    EACH AND EVERY TICKET CARRIES THE INDELIBLE BLOOD STAIN OF SOMEONE WHO DIED AS A RESULT OF DWP, ATOS MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS, IN COLLABORATION WITH SENIOR HENCHMAN, HM COURTS AND TRIBUNAL SERVICES, THE TRIPLE WHAMMY……………….

    WELL OVER FOURTEEN THOUSAND, AND COUNTING, HAVE HAD THEIR LIVES TAKEN BY THIS FRENCH MULTINATIONAL.

    ANYONE ACCEPTING ONE OF THESE TOKEN TICKETS WILL BE ENDORSING THE RITUALISTIC TORTURE AND CULLING THAT THE DWP DECIDED TO UNLEASH ON THOSE LEAST ABLE TO FIGHT BACK.

    I SHOULD KNOW, BEING WITHOUT MONEY FOR OVER A YEAR AND A HALF, TORMENTED, DAY IN AND DAY OUT, NOT SLEEPING AND WATCHING MY WORLD COLLAPSE FROM UNDER ME.

    AND YET, FOR MANY, THE TORTURE CONTINUES AS THE TAINTED HEARINGS PROGRESS ON THE AUTHENTICITY OF ATOS BIASED MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS THAT ARE NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY ARE WRITTEN ON!

    THE DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EVIL ACTS, THE DWP, HAVE NOW TRIED TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES AS FAR AS POSSIBLE FROM ATOS AS THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY LIFTED AND SHOWED THEM TO BE, WHAT THEY ARE, RUTHLESS KILLERS……………………….

    ………..IN FACT, SO TAINTED ARE ATOS, THAT THE DWP RELEASED AN INTERNAL MEMO TO ITS STAFF, STATING THAT DECISION MAKERS MUST NOW USE THE INTERNET TO EVALUATE MEDICAL CONDITIONS.

    WHAT WE HAVE NOW, IS A DWP MAKING ASSESSMENTS ON A PERSONS CAPABILITY TO WORK TRAWLING THE AIRWAVES!

    HOW CAN A DWP DECISION MAKER BE MAKING AN ASSESSMENT ON A HEALTH MATTER, THIS IS SURELY THE JOB OF A SPECIALIST DOCTOR, NOT A TWO BIT SNAKE OIL SALESMAN FROM ATOS OR A DWP PEN PUSHER………..

    DID YOU KNOW THAT A NURSE WHO ATTENDED A SHORT COURSE AT DERBY UNIVERSITY AND ACHIEVED A CERTIFICATE, HAS THE POWER TO OVERRIDE QUALIFIED SPECIALISTS IN THE FIELD OF MEDICINE, WHO HAVE LETTERS AFTER THEIR NAMES…………………

    IF OFFERED ONE OF THESE “TAINTED TICKETS”, PLEASE PUT IT WHERE IT BELONGS………………….

    IN THE FUCKING BIN, ALONG WITH OUR DWP’S ONGOING CULL OF THE INFIRM…………..

  68. Stepping Razor says:

    The best economic figures on the day RBS lost £8 billion last year. The state owned bank RBS has wasted the tax payers money yet again. So if that is the best economic figures RBS can lose £20 billion in 2014 much better figures.

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      …………..thats right razor, we are doing so well that not only is RBS haemorrhaging money like a bleed on a thigh artery, the banking group, Barclay’s have announced plans to axe 400 branches…………………

      Living the big lie is easy when the culprits are left to inflate their bloated wallets while the taxpayer bails them out.

      Annos has predicted another banking bubble burst, for a long time, the loose bits of the jigsaw are starting to create a differing picture to that of the government………….

      ………..everything is not hunky dory, it’s in a state of chaos.
      London may be seeing some significant rises, but i doubt it, as the rate capping and welfare cuts drive the poverty from the safe enclave of the city.

      The U.K. is on it’s arse in every respect, wearing rose tinted spectacles is the folly of fairy tales……

      ………even the latest banking comedian is in the headlines, Mark Carney!
      He is now telling the Scot’s that they will not be able to use our currency if they devolve power.

      If i was Scottish i would lock the door and throw the key away!!!

      The further these toffee nosed bastards in Westminster are away, the better!

      The tail is trying to shake the dog, who are these elitist twat’s that seek to remove the dissent of a once proud nation.

      Gagging public outrage to ill thought out policies are the hallmarks of a police state of which the Human Rights Commission should be investigating.

      Our voice will be heard on the benches of parliament as rioting ensues!

      All the hype of taking in a handful of Syrians whilst ill treating your own is ok for the world stage, but your own people are talking rebellion……….

      ……….watch this space as the banks tumble once again and the false prophecies come to haunt you.

      Statistics and smoke and mirrors will not hide your incompetence.

      “Your day of reckoning is baying at your door”

  69. Stepping Razor says:

    I also have predicted another banking crash [quite a way back] because they [the high flyers] have not learnt their lessons from last time. The investors [now the tax payer] will be bailing out the banks for a 3rd time or is that the 4th time !! Denial breeds laziness & can`t keep up with your own lies !! The UK has the lowest credit rating since the 1920s crash. It`s all about confidence in a fiddle. The full banking crash will happen before May 2015 The General Election. Greedy in money, greedy in power, greedy in lies, greedy in lazyness.

    SR

  70. Stepping Razor says:

    Capita are carrying out the DWP medicals for PIP with cold calling visits. Is that to cut costs or more easy to fiddle a fake medical, as Capita say – It`s not a medical but to help [get] you to fill out a completely wrong form. PIP fraud. What do want with a DWP Capita Income Support Form !!!

    SR

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      Does Capita not realise they are on a sinking ship with DWP just like Atos & our friends UNUM. Lets make up a name like Criminal Charges. In Fraud Is The Game. That is why the DWP can not charge me for DWP Fraud.

      SR

  71. disabled-dave says:

    The BBC is completely under cameron’s domination now. Along with others, I have been using the “Have Your Say” threads to call for a discussion of the fact that the “gagging law” got pushed through the Lords last night:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25934660
    but the BBC moderators are clamping down on it all. On one story ONE THIRD of all comments have been removed.

    It seems Cameron has got the gagging law in place, and now we aren’t allowed to comment on it.

    I can’t wait ’till people wake up and realise that all of their favourite charities and web-forums have been gagged, they can’t campaign about their local hospital, fire-station, and library closures, and they can no longer protest about big businesses being allowed onto their property without their consent to do mineral extraction (which is what the Goverment is proposing: they have just announced they are “removing lots of red-tape” to help businesses. Yes they are; all of the red-tape that keeps us safe and our property protected!)

  72. Stepping Razor says:

    IDS the Bumbler –
    David Cameron defrauding Judas –
    Mike Penning ate all the food at the food bank –
    Esther McVey the house of commons pin up girl –

  73. Stepping Razor says:

    Gagging Orders = My Area

    If I come out with propaganda of the truthful kind the propaganda machine can not repeat it, because it is too dangerous. No one person can control the internet. David Cameron is turning into a Communist or has not read the history books at uni.
    RED DAVE.

  74. Stepping Razor says:

    If people work for nothing as slaves, that is not included in the minimum wage figures. So there is no one working for less than the minimum wage. There are all working for nothing bailing out RBS for the PM !!

    Jolly Good Show – How thick do you want us to be before we are totally brainwashed with David Cameron`s communist views !! Shut It Down RED DAVE !!

    SR

  75. disabled-dave says:

    I’ve just made a complaint to the BBC about the censorship of views that are contrary to Government policy.

    Now that the gagging law has been passed, does anyone know how that will affect this site? I’ve just read that ANYTHING that might “influence any voter to change their mind” will count as electioneering and be against the law. Even being anti-racist can count as being political because it might make voters for the BNP or EDL change their mind!!!!!!!

    So campaigning against Atos, the DWP, benefits cuts, and the bedroom tax will clearly be political, as will anything said about Scottish independence, which leaves Black Triangle and DPAC in the firing line.

    This country gets more like Nazi Germany every day.

  76. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    …………….if everyone said, “fuck it”, we are not paying for the tv licence, the BBC WOULD BE SHAFTED AND THE GOVERNMENTS GOBSHITES WOULD BE SILENCED, ONCE AND FOR ALL……….

    THEY CAN’T PROSECUTE EVERYBODY.

    THE BBC IS FUNDED BY THE LICENCE PAYER, THE LEAST WE EXPECT IS THE TRUTH, NOT THE OPINIONS OF NANNY STATE PUPPETS WHO REWRITE THE NEWS TO ACHIEVE POLITICAL ENDS………………….

    PLEASE DON’T FORGET;

    THEY HAVE JUST WASTED £100 MILLION OF YOUR HARD EARNED FEES ON A DIGITAL PROJECT THAT CRASHED.

    COUPLE THAT WITH A FORTUNE IN GOLDEN HANDSHAKES FOR AN INEPT, HAND IN GLOVE HEIRARCHY RULED OVER BY THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG, PISSPOT PATTEN,THE TRUE BLUE TOILET RAG, AND YOU HAVE A GOOD REASON TO REFUSE TO PAY…………..

    SACK THEM, GIVE THEM THE BOOT, THEY ARE NOT LIVING UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS………………

  77. Stepping Razor says:

    MP demands Capita reform to end punitive treatment of disabled people – 30th Jan 2014

    Peter Hain MP has called on the medical assessment company Capita to urgently reform its process before it descends into the same ‘punitive fiasco’ as the ATOS assessments from Employment and Support Allowance which caused misery for thousands of local people.

    Capita is the preferred assessment provider in Wales for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) applications which replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) last April as part of the Government’s welfare changes.

    New applicants and those renewing their DLA award will now have to apply for Personal Independence Payments.

    Growing numbers of applicants have been waiting months for their assessments to be completed after initially making the application in the summer says Mr Hain.

    In a letter to Capita, the MP declared: “I am deeply concerned by the growing trend that is emerging around the Capita assessments for the Personal Independence Payment application and am anxious that this is dealt with swiftly and decisively before a situation similar to the protracted problems experienced with ATOS and the Employment and Support Allowance assessments develops.

    “Constituents have approached me, all with the same problem, regarding the length of time it is taking for Capita to process their application. Typically constituents placed their application in June or July, had the face to face assessment in August or September and are still waiting for the report to be sent from Capita to the Department of Work and Pensions for a decision to be made. This simply is an unacceptable amount of time for people to wait for their application to be processed.

    “Sadly, the experience that I am hearing for people who have been through the process, is that from the face to face assessment to the point of Capita sending the report to the DWP the system it is prolonged and inexplicably lengthy.

    “It cannot go on that people are waiting months for their assessment to be processed, causing no end of misery for the individual and their family. I ask that you review your system and ensure that applications are dealt with promptly and efficiently and in doing so the turn around on applications is drastically reduced from its current length,” said Mr Hain.

    The MP for Neath, Wales, has also written to Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, urging him to get a grip on the situation saying: “I urge you to get on top of this issue now and resolve the problems with Capita and the length of time it is taking to process the assessments before it descends into a similar shambles to that of ATOS and people with disabilities are left fending for themselves.

    “I have asked that Capita review its systems and reduce the length of time it takes them to process applications and I ask you to take actively work [sic] to ensure Capita fulfills its obligations to effectively process those applications is a timely manner as the approved assessment provider.”

    Disability campaigners say the whole current assessment process in flawed, inhumane and unfit for purpose and should be scrapped.

    ekklesia.co.uk
    http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/20055

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        The only reason Capita is dragging their feet is the fallout from ATOS, the murderers……………..

        Capita have set on many of the HCP’S (SORRY I KEEP LAUGHING), who deserted ATOS when the shit started to fly.
        The first batch of reports would have been written but not submitted, because after scrutiny they were exactly the same biased claptrap issued by ATOS……..

        Despite what they attempt to put across, the whole idea of PIP is nothing more than another theft of benefits. There was nothing wrong with either, Incapacity Benefit, nor Disability Living Allowance, they were adjudicated upon by real doctors, not money grabbing opportunists with a worthless certificate only recognised by Shithouse Smith.

        i am of the opinion that the examinations have stopped because the qualifications are not worth the paper they are written, the word of a discredited bed pan washer against that of a real specialist or doctor.

        They say that there are no targets. This is utter bullshit on behalf of the DWP as they try frantically to bury their mistakes in the cemetery of shame.
        Mcvey announced 600, 000 would lose out, that means that a projection was made against the figures claiming…………

        This, in turn, means that the DWP have to shoehorn the figures to fit the claimants count.

        ATOS were guilty of manipulating reports to fit the QUOTAS that were hidden in the contracts.

        If the ATOS reports were tainted and of poor quality, why are they still being used in tribunals up and down the country, to steal benefits?

        Only one answer, a stitch up across departments…………….

        COST CUTTING EXERCISES COST LIVES. SEEMINGLY A PRICE WORTH PAYING.

        Fancy that! The powers that be, within Europe stating that the UKgovernment is vastly shortchanging the pensioners and claimants…

        Who would think this of a government who has never done an exercise to find out if £71 can support a human being.

        CAPITA MAY BE UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT BUT THE TESTING CRITERIA WILL JUST BE THE SAME………………….

        “FUCK THE DISABLED, THEY ARE DEFECTIVE ANYWAY”

  78. Stepping Razor says:

    Jobcentre Plus criticised by MPs for ‘missing the point’ – 28th Jan 2014

    A House of Commons Committee has criticised Jobcentre Plus for focusing on getting people off benefits rather than into work. In a report published today, the committee says that Jobcentre staff must be incentivised to get people into work. Chairman of the work and pensions committee, Dame Anne Begg, says Jobcentre Plus (JCP) “could be hitting its targets but missing the point”. “JCP’s performance is currently measured primarily by the proportion of claimants leaving benefit by specific points in their claims,” she explains. “This takes no account of whether they are leaving benefit to start a job or for less positive reasons, including being sanctioned or simply transferring to another benefit. “We believe this risks JCP hitting its targets but missing the point. JCP must be very clearly incentivised to get people into work, not just off benefits.” In a statement, a DWP spokeswoman stated: “The report recognises that Jobcentre Plus responds well to changes and is cost effective. Every day Jobcentre advisers are successfully helping people realise their aspiration to move off benefits and into work so they can secure their future.”

    recruiter.co.uk
    http://www.recruiter.co.uk/news/2014/01/jobcentre-plus-criticised-by-mps-for-missing-the-point/#sthash.7MYGRV1T.dpuf

  79. Stepping Razor says:

    DWP spends £75,000 of taxpayers’ money training staff to deal with media – 29th Jan 2014

    The Department for Work and Pensions spent £75,000 of taxpayers’ money on ‘media training’ for its staff.

    A freedom of information request by the Huffington Post UK revealed that the DWP has spent £74,074 since May 2010 training its staff how to deal with reporters and how to look good for the cameras.

    Speaking to the Huffington Post, Labour MP Teresa Pearce said that the £75,000 bill was a “waste of money”.

    She said: “I have seen no presence in my local press of Jobcentre Plus spokespeople and as the department has fully staffed press and media office, I think this is a waste of money.”

    A DWP spokesperson said: “This covers the cost of media training for a department of around 100,000 staff since 2010, and it’s sensible that new ministers and staff who speak to the media are given initial training.”

    24dash.com
    http://www.24dash.com/news/central_government/2014-01-29-DWP-spends-75-000-of-taxpayers-money-training-Lord-Freud-to-look-good

  80. Humanity2012 says:

    This Country is Bloody Crazy

    People Need to be Out Protesting Not just Fiddling about like
    Sleepwalkers

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      A freedom of information request by the Huffington Post UK revealed that the DWP has spent £74,074 since May 2010 training its staff how to deal with reporters and how to look good for the cameras.

      …………….I THOUGHT THAT THE STAFF HAD APPEARED IN “SCHINDLER’S LIST”

      1. Stepping Razor says:

        The DWP have not done a good job in the media. Another waste of taxpayers money. Lots of fraudulent claims by the DWP. The DWP need a lawyer not a PR to the media.

  81. Stepping Razor says:

    All DWP staff should be investigated for fraud within the DWP. Lots of sackings & criminal charges then. The disabled are not the scape goats for DWP staff Fraud.

  82. disabled-dave says:

    I’ve just got a reply (I won’t call it an answer because it doesn’t actually answer ANY of my numbered questions) to a couple of e-mails I sent my MP regarding points raised by Geoff. The letter goes as follows:
    Dear Mr G
    standard paragraph 1
    standard paragraph 2
    standard paragraph 3
    standard paragraph 4
    etc
    etc.
    Funnily enough I have sent him previous e-mails on different matters related to disability matters and the replies to these were:
    Dear Mr G
    standard paragraph 1
    standard paragraph 2
    standard paragraph 3
    standard paragraph 4
    etc
    etc.
    Yep. Exactly the same letter. He also sent me a letter intended for someone else, which was again exactly the same…

    On a brighter note, I’ve got a small bit of publicity on the Media Lens site regarding the BBC censoring disability stories and hiding what should have been major stories, like the guy who set himself on fire outside Birmingham Job Centre and the guy who died last week after having no benefits because he was sanctioned after the DWP sent a letter to the wrong address.

    http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1391086860.html

    The site is supported by John Pilger, so hopefully it will lead to more publicity.

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      CAPITA HEALTHCARE, THE NAME IS A COMPLETE OXYMORON, A WORD THAT SEEMS TO CHALLENGE IT’S OWN MEANING………….

      SOMETHING ON THE LINES OF, LIVING DEAD OR GROUND PILOT………..

      CAPITA HAVE NO CARE ABOUT THE HEALTH OF DISABLED WHATSOEVER, THEY ARE YET ANOTHER COG IN THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS, DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE…..

      IT’S RATHER LIKE HAVING AN SS STORMTROOPER WELCOMING YOU TO TAKE A RELAXING, FRAGRANT SHOWER,

      “YOU KNOW THE OUTCOME BEFORE YOU EVER SET FOOT INSIDE”

      ………AND WHY ALL THE DRIVEL BEFOREHAND, “YOU ARE INVITED TO APPLY FOR PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENT, PIP”………

      ARE YOU FUCK INVITED!!!

      THEY HAVE STOLEN YOUR EXISTING BENEFITS AND LEFT YOU WITH NO OTHER OPTION TO SURVIVE, LIKE LEADING YOU INTO A CATTLE TRUCK DESTINED FOR AUSCHWITZ WITH A PISTOL PRESSED FIRMLY INTO YOUR TEMPLE…..

      WORKING TO DWP TARGETS IS WHAT THE GAME IS ALL ABOUT, COUPLE THAT WITH AN EX BED PAN CLEANER WITH A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE THAT IS NOT RECOGNISED EVEN IN WILLY WONKA’S CHOCOLATE FACTORY, YOU HAVE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER!!!

      WHERE ARE ALL THE CITIZENS THAT HAVE BEEN DENIED THEIR ONLY MEANS OF SURVIVAL, YES I MEAN THOSE WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY DIED?

      THEY ARE LOST IN THE SYSTEM, THE SYSTEM THAT SYSTEMATICALLY ENDS THE LIVES OF THE POOREST AND WEAKEST………

      CAPITA, ATOS, WHOEVER YOU MIGHT CALL UPON, ARE ALL SINGING FROM THE “SAME SONGSHEET” TO THE TUNE OF DISABILITY DENIAL U.K.

      WHEREVER YOU HAVE PLAN YOU NEED A MOTIVE, SO LETS CALL THE PLAN;

      “THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II DISABILITY EXTERMINATION PACKAGE”

      YOU, MY DEAR, WORRY ABOUT YOUR CRUMBLING 240 BEDROOM PALACE AND WHERE YOUR NEXT VENISON IS COMING FROM, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT THE DEATH TOLL OF YOUR WARPED WELFARE BLESSINGS…….

  83. geoff reynolds says:

    CAPITA HEALTHCARE, THE NAME IS A COMPLETE OXYMORON, A WORD THAT SEEMS TO CHALLENGE IT’S OWN MEANING………….

    SOMETHING ON THE LINES OF, LIVING DEAD OR GROUND PILOT………..

    CAPITA HAVE NO CARE ABOUT THE HEALTH OF DISABLED WHATSOEVER, THEY ARE YET ANOTHER COG IN THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS, DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE…..

    IT’S RATHER LIKE HAVING AN SS STORMTROOPER WELCOMING YOU TO TAKE A RELAXING, FRAGRANT SHOWER,

    “YOU KNOW THE OUTCOME BEFORE YOU EVER SET FOOT INSIDE”

    ………AND WHY ALL THE DRIVEL BEFOREHAND, “YOU ARE INVITED TO APPLY FOR PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENT, PIP”………

    ARE YOU FUCK INVITED!!!

    THEY HAVE STOLEN YOUR EXISTING BENEFITS AND LEFT YOU WITH NO OTHER OPTION TO SURVIVE, LIKE LEADING YOU INTO A CATTLE TRUCK DESTINED FOR AUSCHWITZ WITH A PISTOL PRESSED FIRMLY INTO YOUR TEMPLE…..

    WORKING TO DWP TARGETS IS WHAT THE GAME IS ALL ABOUT, COUPLE THAT WITH AN EX BED PAN CLEANER WITH A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE THAT IS NOT RECOGNISED EVEN IN WILLY WONKA’S CHOCOLATE FACTORY, YOU HAVE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER!!!

    WHERE ARE ALL THE CITIZENS THAT HAVE BEEN DENIED THEIR ONLY MEANS OF SURVIVAL, YES I MEAN THOSE WHO HAVE NOT ALREADY DIED?

    THEY ARE LOST IN THE SYSTEM, THE SYSTEM THAT SYSTEMATICALLY ENDS THE LIVES OF THE POOREST AND WEAKEST………

    CAPITA, ATOS, WHOEVER YOU MIGHT CALL UPON, ARE ALL SINGING FROM THE “SAME SONGSHEET” TO THE TUNE OF DISABILITY DENIAL U.K.

    WHEREVER YOU HAVE PLAN YOU NEED A MOTIVE, SO LETS CALL THE PLAN;

    “THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II DISABILITY EXTERMINATION PACKAGE”

    YOU, MY DEAR, WORRY ABOUT YOUR CRUMBLING 240 BEDROOM PALACE AND WHERE YOUR NEXT VENISON IS COMING FROM, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT THE DEATH TOLL OF YOUR WARPED WELFARE BLESSINGS…

    1. nick says:

      Geoff you should write to the queen and let her know your views. she herself wont respond as the family don’t get involved with disabled people or there care but at least you tried

      1. GEOFF REYNOLS says:

        THE QUEEN IS IN HER COUNTING HOUSE COUNTING ALL HER MONEY,

        THOUSANDS HAVE ALREADY DIED, SHE PROBABLY THINKS ITS FUNNY………………..

        1. nick says:

          as i say the queen according to retired friend of mine who worked in the royal household for over 40 years tells me the queen would know nothing of the struggle the sick and disabled go through in fact the whole household would know very little

          That does not mean to say the queen doesn’t care it’s just the way the family has always operated with both sickness and disability are just taboo subjects

  84. AL says:

    Had a letter back from Ester Mcveys minions, I’ll summerise. I’m good at summerising. Apparently if you think you will be suicidal after going through the ATOS experience, you need to mention it at the outset on your ESA50 and also discuss it with your GP quick smart. Then when your GP provides evidence s/he needs to mention it and you send it in with your ESA50. You also need to make sure you cover it thoroughly in your ATOS interview. (The risks associated with your being found fit for work, or work related activity needs to be thoroughly highlighted and investigated) The HCP ought to bring it up, (they are fully trained in exploring suicidal ideation and of course have access to mental function experts) but it’s a tricky subject, so you can hardly blame them for not doing, if they bring it up and you are on the edge, it might take too much time to counsell you after. If as we suspect, they get paid per assessment they don’t want to waste time fussing over you or coaxing you back in off the ledge! If you don’t bring it up, then it is pretty much your fault if when you fail your WCA you decide to top yourself after, so now you know. Simples.

    (Hint to the uninitiated; you will feel suicidal after your ATOS experience. It is designed that way.)

    If you can’t cope with a two year work programme and the likely harsh Sanctions if you don’t/can’t comply, you need to be in the support group. If you end up suicidal because you forgot to mention this, it really is your fault.

    Assuming that just because you simply have a physical problem, you won’t end up Bat Crap Crazy after ATOS, is as stupid as the HCP assuming that just because you own a dog, you walk it yourself.

    I’m assuming the people who have commited suicide after their ATOS experience, forgot to mention beforehand, that sometime in the future, when they had had everything taken away, they would feel suicidal. Hardly the fault of ATOS or the DWP huh? Oh and if you do decide to top yourself (and I’m not suggesting you do) could you kindly leave a note for the person who finds you to tell the DWP it is absolutely the fault of ATOS and the DWP you are dead? That’d be a help, else I’m afraid they won’t really want to know or learn lessons from it.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      Mental function experts = No such thing, it is a name made up by someone who is not qualified.

      It seems the DWP want everyone to be suicidal before filling out the form to cover their backs for blame.

      1. nick says:

        sounds more like a Syrian proposition after having been tortured than an ATOS one. although both are likely to kill if unwell

  85. geoff reynolds says:

    Claimants seldom feel suicidal before the assessment, the feeling of worthlessness comes afterwards when you are left in the gutter suffering depression and anxiety and looking to pay your next bill or eat…………

    It’s a psychological torture that reduces people to their lowest ebb.

    The reason the bodycount is rising is the DWP, in a quest to introduce the ESA BENEFIT, decided not to do a proper cumulative assessment knowing there would be casualties.

    As a result, the thousands of people who have succumbed to death, have become the biggest embarrassment ever to the DWP.

    Rather than face their demons, they pretend nothing is happening, refuse to do a mortality count and act in total denial of their actions.

    They think they can escape the error of their ways, but all the wanton indirect murders fall firmly at the departments feet……….

    Anyone can pretend to be oblivious but they have been told, time and time again.

    At present they have the court services and police in their back pockets……..

    It’s a cosy relationship till the shit hits the fan and the claims emerge.

    Heads will roll, liability will be contested and the full extent of the evil perpetrated against the most weakest will be broadcast all over the world, rather like it is being now!

    1. AL says:

      Ha Geoff, did you spot a little problem with how the DWP and ATOS deal with Suicidal tendancy?

      And you do have to convince them of the fact you are a serious suicide risk. Not sure how!

      So do we know if is it true that all those who have killed themselves, were easy to spot at the assessment stage? Were they already self harming? practicing swallowing tablets? jumping in front of lorries? or excessivly cleaning their gun?

      Not that my opinion is of interest but I think the big surprise is how suddenly and intensely the need to not be living is felt. People undergoing this process need to be aware that it is a SERIOUS risk and they need to know how they intend to deal with it WHEN it occurs. Swallowing all your medication is not what I am getting at here. When it hits it is OVER WHELMING. If you value your life you need a SENSIBLE plan to get you through it. When you feel suicidal, jumping under a truck seems to be the most rational thought in your head! Hardly a comforting thought for truck drivers. We won’t tell em huh?

      1. nick says:

        this is a good point as any CPN/Psychiatrist will tell you in that having to go through the ATOS process in which has killed quite a few people is that at a later date those in the support group have to live with the fact in that they get to live while many through just bad luck of their fellow sick and disabled with ATOS have died

        This in turn does and can cause a lot of suffering in those in the support group i for one as a example which can then lead to their death with a very good support team around them as their is a lot of guilt that follows in like could i myself have done more did i shout enough to my own mp why are some of my on line friends dead

        these are questions that will never be answered and people like myself have to live with these facts

        1. AL says:

          Nick, don’t feel guilty for being alive and safe. (I for one am happy for you.) Just don’t forget us either. You have a voice and you can still stand up for right. Getting despondent helps no-one.

          I hardly want to mention that we need to have ugh! FAIRNESS for all. Divide and rule leaves a nasty taste as people get picked off separately and then when it’s too late, we wonder should we have done more?

          Separate topic but not. Stephanie Bottrill tragically took her own life due to the Bedroom tax last May. You can look her up if you missed it. She sadly used someone else to help her. In the article it says she threw herself under a truck. We don’t get to hear how this has upset the driver, indeed he or she is not mentioned, but I think it’s unlikely that the truck was absently careering down a motorway without a driver. I wonder if the driver has post traumatic stress? Are they still driving? Do they still have a marvelous truck driving career? I want to know that they are OK. Stephanie Bottrill was placed as many have been, in a no win situation. (I’m not passing judgement or blame on her.) Can’t move because there are no alternative properties and can’t afford the tax either, she took the logical step to cure the problem. Only now we know she killed herself in vain as she was one of a few who had a tenancy before 1996. She was charged the tax wrongly and the law did not require her to pay. Now she is due a refund! It’s a mess.

          All of us affected or not need to stand up against unfairness. Suicide is on the increase as ever increasing hopelessness takes grip. For every suicide there are those around the person who are affected and damaged.

          If you have a minute write to your MP and ask them to support the Lavery Bill. Ian Lavery is going to introduce a 10 min bill to scrap the bedroom tax in parliament in early feb. It doesn’t affect me luckily but I’m still guilty when I don’t speak up for what I think is right. We each need to support the other.

  86. Stepping Razor says:

    Mental function experts = No such thing, it is a name made up by someone who is not qualified.

    It seems the DWP want everyone to be suicidal before filling out the form to cover their backs for blame.

    Mental function experts can tell if someone is faking feeling suicidal. Mental Function fraud experts that can tell who`s faking the mental function of fraud.

    It is a lawyers term to cover the DWP from any deaths that may happen. The lawyers mental function is to cover the mental function experts.

    SR

    1. AL says:

      Hm, how easily I was taken in. Mental Function Expert is a HCP with as you say no mental health qualification, some mental health experience which could be as little as a few weeks and two weeks in house non affiliated ATOS training. I’m sumerising again. Oh Heck! They are not even DWP accountable. No-one knows what they do or the quality of their work. They exist at the end of a phone line. for the HCP to call. The Claimant can ask that the HCP calls them during their interview if the think the HCP isn’t understanding them. (Then you can tell the rest of us what they do and whether, as we suspect, they are just an HCP with a cherry on top that talks out of their. . .OK? ) Honestly I despair. They tell me they take suicide seriously and a GRRR ! two week ATOS training is enough formal training to deal with Mental health issues. It’s an absolute disgrace. Peoples lives are given no value. GRRRRR!!! If you have the volume setting right you should have blood coming out of your ears.

  87. Stepping Razor says:

    What employer is going to employ someone with Tourette’s syndrome !!

    F***king c***s.

    The Mental Function Expert can understand swear words, so how are they going to write it down. The mental function expert can`t even write.

  88. Stepping Razor says:

    Yeovil insulin-dependant diabetic ‘struggling to make ends’ after five-month wait for Government’s new aid Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – 30th Jan 2014

    AN insulin-dependant diabetic who can no longer work because of her condition claims she is struggling to make ends meet after a five-month wait for Government aid.

    Nicola Holden, 52, of Yeovil, has had diabetes for 40 years.

    She takes insulin twice a day and last year she was diagnosed with Charcot foot – a condition prevalent in diabetics which means bones fracture and rarely heal entirely.

    Ms Holden had to retire from her job at Boots in Yeovil as she was unable to walk and her foot is in a cast indefinitely.

    Struggling to make ends meet on around £280 a month from her Employment and Support Allowance, Ms Holden applied for a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in September but has so far heard nothing.

    The benefit is replacing the Disability Living Allowance and since June new claimants were required to apply for PIP instead.

    Occupational health service provider Atos Healthcare conducts some PIP assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

    Ms Holden said: “When I contacted Atos in October I was told they could not possibly tell me the status of my application as they were swamped.

    “When I heard nothing this month I contacted David Laws. I’m very annoyed and unhappy about it.”

    Ms Holden said she fears her age and condition will make it difficult for her to tie down another job.

    She said: “I can only walk or stand for one or two minutes at a time.

    “I’m struggling to make ends meet and I need to know, if anything, what I might receive, so I can make the right financial decisions.”

    Ms Holden said she has found the process an emotional ordeal.

    She said: “I’m constantly worrying, I’m suffering from severe depression and I’ve had enough. I just want it resolved.”

    On Monday Yeovil MP David Laws said long delays processing benefit claims were “unacceptable” and said he is raising the matter with the DWP.

    A department spokeswoman said: “PIP is a completely new benefit to better reflect today’s understanding of disability.

    “We have introduced a new face-to-face assessment and regular reviews. In some cases this process is taking longer than the DLA system, which relied on a self-assessment form.

    “We are working with providers to ensure all the steps in the process are as smooth as they can be. The benefit is back-dated to the day the claim was received if there are delays.”

    An Atos Healthcare spokewoman said a letter was on its way to Ms Holden with a consultation date and apologised for the delay.

    She said: “The assessment is a key part of a person’s claim and it’s important each person is given the time they need to explain how their condition affects them. We are looking at various ways in which we can keep our customers better informed, including direct letters and more information on our website.”

    westerngazette – yeovil
    Read more: http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Yeovil-insulin-dependent-diabetic-struggling-make/story-20521864-detail/story.html#ixzz2s6jU5JSP

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      A department spokeswoman said: “PIP is a completely new benefit to better reflect today’s understanding of disability.

      —- PIP is a benefit nothing more nothing less — UNDERSTAND

      “We have introduced a new face-to-face assessment and regular reviews. In some cases this process is taking longer than the DLA system, which relied on a self-assessment form.

      — No Medical Qualifications – HCP are fake & don`t have a clue about medical matters. —-

      “We are working with providers to ensure all the steps in the process are as smooth as they can be. The benefit is back-dated to the day the claim was received if there are delays.”

      —– Some sort of apology for their failure. —–

      An Atos Healthcare spokewoman said a letter was on its way to Ms Holden with a consultation date and apologised for the delay.

      —- More threats & sanctions. —-

      She said: “The assessment is a key part of a person’s claim and it’s important each person is given the time they need to explain how their condition affects them. We are looking at various ways in which we can keep our customers better informed, including direct letters and more information on our website.”

      —- You are a HCP ATOS customer aka cash cow.——

      And still nothing has changed, hopefully if we the DWP & ATOS leave it long enough the woman will go away & die.
      ATOS – DWP – FRAUD.

      SR

  89. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I WOULD LIKE TO DRAW YOUR ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE;

    The answer to Q3 is no, the Decision does not rely solely on the assessment report supplied by
    Atos Healthcare. Other factors such as medical evidence from the claimants Limited Capability
    for Work Questionnaire (ESA50) and any evidence requested from the claimants GP. Atos
    Healthcare does not make any decision on entitlement following the Work Capability
    Assessment that is solely the responsibility of DWP.

    WHAT THIS PASSAGE SHOWS CLEARLY, IS THAT THE TWO INDIVIDUALS WHO MAKE A DECISION ON YOUR ESA PAYMENT ARE BOTH UNQUALIFIED.

    THE SO CALLED HCP IS NOTHING MORE THAN A GLORIFIED PISS PAN WASHER SEEKING EXTRA COIN AT SOMEONES GRIEF, WHO HAS A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE, RECOGNISED BY NO REAL MEDICAL BODY, AWARDED OVER A FEW DAYS COURSEWORK.

    THE OTHER, THE DWP DECISION MAKER, IS A PEN PUSHER, ALSO WITH NO MORE MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE OTHER THAN BEING AN INTERNET TRAWLER……………..

    YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED BY A PAIR OF CHARLATANS, THE WHOLE EPISODE OF WORK CAPABILITY IS A CON TO SAVE MONEY AT THE FATE OF A PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY SCARRED PERSON………………

    AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL STITCH UP BETWEEN THE DWP AND THE COURTS SYSTEM……..

    DESPITE WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WEBSITES MAY SAY ABOUT A HEARING, YOU ARE DENIED THE RIGHT TO SPEAK FREELY.

    THE WHOLE TRIBUNAL IS DEMEANING, BIASED, AND A FOREGONE CONCLUSION……………..

    IN OTHERWORDS, A STATE CONTROLLED WHITEWASH….

  90. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY AGAIN, TO STRESS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR A CLAIMANT TO HAVE ALL THE FACTS AT HAND WHEN CHALLENGING A DWP DECISION………

    IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO REQUEST ALL INFORMATION THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS HOLD ON YOU.

    SEND THEM A LETTER, RECORDED DELIVERY OF COURSE, AND ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

    IT COSTS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING……………….

    GIVE IT A GO!!!!

    MY INFORMATION ARRIVED IN THREE LARGE ENVELOPES AND WAS OVER SEVEN INCHES, 18CM DEEP.

    STRANGELY MY HISTORY SHOWED THAT I HAD EASILY MAINTAINED OVER 15 POINTS, NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE BENEFITS IN THE PAST, YET WHEN TESTED BY ATOS, ACHIEVED ZERO………

  91. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    HAVE YOU GOT YOUR TICKETS FOR THE DWP ATOS LOTTERY?

    SATURDAY NIGHTS ROLLOVER, TAKEN FROM THE RECENT MORTALITY COUNT, IS FOURTEEN THOUSAND AND RISING.

    COULD YOU BE AN UNLUCKY WINNER?

    ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MATCH ALL THE “DESCRIPTORS AND YOU COULD WALK AWAY WITH THE BIGGEST PRIZE EVER AWARDED IN HISTORY……………

    “YOUR LIFE”

    ALREADY MANY HAVE JUST MISSED OUT, FEELING DEPRESSED, HUNGRY AND SUICIDAL.

    THERE IS NO NEED TO BUY A TICKET.

    ENTRANTS WILL BE INFORMED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS.

    ALL YOU NEED TO QUALIFY IS AN EXISTING DISABILITY, EITHER PHYSICAL OR MENTAL.

    THE WINNING NUMBERS ARE DRAWN BY AN UNQUALIFIED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.

    PREVIOUS WINNING ENTRIES CAN BE FOUND AT A CEMETERY NEAR YOU, OR SCATTERED ON HALLOWED GROUND.

    ALL CLAIMANTS WILL BE CONTACTED BY POST (BROWN ENVELOPE)……………….

    ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE PART IN THE DWP ATOS LOTTERY OF LIFE?

    ALL ENTRANTS WILL HAVE THE UNIQUE PLEASURE OF BEING RE-ENTERED INTO THE DRAW, 3 MONTHS AFTER THE TRIBUNAL HAS DECIDED OTHERWISE.

    FIFTEEN POINTS WILL DECIDE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR THE SUPPORT GROUP, WRAG OR THE CEMETERY……………..

    YOU HAVE GOT TO BE “IN IT TO WIN IT”

    WHO WILL BE THE LUCKY PERSON THIS WEEK??????????????

    1. AL says:

      It all a game huh?

      I guess everyone read this? http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/breaking-news-government-reviewer.html

      And the guardian article which picked up on it?
      Quote;
      ‘A government welfare adviser has suggested thousands of ill and disabled people were subjected to “inhumane and mechanistic” fit-for-work tests after ministers ignored his advice not to push ahead immediately with plans to reassess 1.5 million claimants on incapacity benefit.
      Professor Malcolm Harrington told the Guardian he believed the work capability assessment (WCA) was “not working very well” when the coalition took power in 2010, and he told ministers a big expansion of the scheme should be delayed for a year to enable the tests to be improved.
      Harrington, an occupational health specialist who carried out three official reviews of the WCA between 2010 and 2012, said: “If they had changed the system to make it more humane I would suggest that some of the people who went through it would have had a less traumatic experience.”‘

      ‘Asked why he had wanted to delay the migration of IB claimants, Harrington said he wanted more time to see how the test – which at the time he considered to be “inhumane and mechanistic” – worked on new claimants before introducing it to long-term IB claimants who he said would understandably be “upset, angry and negative” about a test which “questioned their identity”.’

      http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/16/ministers-ignored-advice-fit-for-work-tests

      Inhumane? Traumatic? ‘Mechanistic,’ Causing claimants to have ‘Questioned their Identity?’ Is anyone in any doubt as to why these tests are dangerous and why they have caused such harm?

      Professor Harrington, who had access to everything to do with the WCA, who carried out three reviews on behalf of the government into how well it was working, made these comments. And Chris Grayling chose to ignore his advise. Those who have died, those who in despair took their own lives, those who are depressed and anxious because of this test can thank Chris Grayling for his complete disregard for peoples lives.

  92. AL says:

    ‘Atos scandal: Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute

    MORE than HALF of people stripped of disability benefits after being ruled “fit for work” by Atos were left unemployed and without income, according to a Government study.’

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/atos-scandal-benefits-bosses-admit-1344278
    Sept 2012

    Hadn’t realised there was an actual govt study that found that people are being left destitute. The figures I see bandied about are 1million ESA claimants found fit for work (implying that they were therefore were scrounging fraudsters) Kinda rubbish fraudsters if they got caught out on both ESA and JSA and end up destitute.

    ‘When David Cameron came to power he said :

    “The test of a good society is how do you protect the poorest, the most vulnerable, the elderly, the frail.

    That’s important in good times, it’s even more important in difficult times. People need to know that if they have me as their Prime Minister and they have a Conservative government, it will be that sort of Prime Minister

    Iain Duncan-Smith said :

    “I say to those watching today and who are genuinely sick, disabled or are retired. You have nothing to fear.

    This government and this party don’t regard caring for the needy as a burden. It is a proud duty to provide financial security to the most vulnerable members of our society and this will not change. This is our contract with the most vulnerable.”’

    http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/breaking-news-government-reviewer.html

  93. Stepping Razor says:

    Sick benefits claimant has HEART ATTACK during Jobcentre test – and Government axe his payments – 31st Jan 2014

    A man who was forced to give up work with heart problems had his benefits axed for failing to complete a capability assessment – after suffering a heart attack during the examination.

    During the appointment, he was told he was having a cardiac arrest, forcing the nurse to stop the test.

    Two weeks later he got a letter from Jobcentre Plus saying he had withdrawn from the assessment and, as such, was being sanctioned.

    The anonymous man took his case to to Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams.

    A spokesman for the MP said: “No-one is saying people on benefits shouldn’t have to look for work when appropriate, but this government is going beyond the pale in using underhand tactics to force vulnerable people off benefits to massage the unemployment data.”

    The man is just one of a string of people who have come forward to the MP.

    An anonymous woman was sanctioned after missing an appointment despite phoning on the morning of her assessment to explain she suffers from widespread arthritis, needs two knee replacements, cannot use her thumbs and struggles to write.

    But the Department of Work and Pensions wrote to her to say they ‘doubt the reasons she provided’ and asked her to write informing of her illness meaning she was sanctioned even though she followed the correct procedures.

    A further example includes a man who began claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance in November, 2012, after living off redundancy payment and has been seeking employment ever since.

    He received a letter from the Jobcentre Plus office in Preston saying his allowance had been stopped because he had failed to attend an interview the day before.

    However, he had attended at noon and saw an adviser for a 30-minute appointment.

    Other agencies have also been accused over their administration of benefits. Earlier this month we reported how Atos wrote to a woman in a coma asking her why she was not working.

    Hit Channel 4 series Benefits Street has also put the benefits system in the spotlight.

    Mirror –
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sick-benefits-claimant-heart-attack-3098219#ixzz2sTErnSKR

  94. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    How can it be classed as anything other than “DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION?”

    WHAT ACT EMPOWERS THE DWP TO PERSECUTE THE LONG TERM DISABLED BY DEMANDING MULTIPLE HEALTH CHECKS OVER SHORT PERIODS OF TIME?

    WHY ARE PROMINENT MINISTERS TURNING A BLIND EYE TO THE DEGRADING LEVELS OF PERSECUTION AGAINST THE WEAKEST AND MOST VULNERABLE?

    I HAVE SEEN MANY REPORTS BLAMING THE LIKES OF ATOS, FOR RECALLING DISABLED CLAIMANTS FOR RE-EVALUATION, BUT THE CAUSE IS NOT THEM, IT IS SOLELY THE DWP!

    PROBABLY ACTING ON INFORMATION FROM THE “WORTHLESS NUDGE UNIT”, THE DWP SEEK TO CONTINUE TO INFLICT GRIEF AND A FEELING OF WORTHLESSNESS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY, ON THOSE LEAST LIKELY TO RESIST…………..

    A LONG TERM PHYSICAL OR MENTAL DISABILITY IS CLASSED AS SOMETHING THAT CONTINUES FOR MORE THAN A YEAR,
    WHY ARE CLAIMANTS SCRUTINISED AFTER ONLY A FEW MONTHS?
    THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER, ” TO TRY AND DRIVE THEM TO SUICIDE”

    IT MAY BE SAD, BUT IT’S TRUE.
    THEY ARE PLAYING MIND GAMES THAT WILL END UP WITH ANOTHER CLAIMANTS DEATH, THE UNREPORTED CASUALTIES OF A HEINOUS ATTACK ON THE DISABLED………………..

    WHY EVEN BOTHER TO GO TO A TRIBUNAL, WHERE YOU ARE RECOMMENDED A BINDING DECISION FOR, SAY, TWO YEARS, ONLY TO BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AND ASKED TO UNDERGO FURTHER TESTS AFTER THREE MONTHS?

    THIS SHOWS THE UTTER CONTEMPT THAT IS HEAPED UPON THE DISABLED BY THE COLLUSION OF THE COURTS SERVICE, WHO LOOK THE OTHER WAY, AND THE TWISTED DWP ……………

    THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT BEARS TESTAMENT TO WHAT I SAY;

    To answer your question ‘how long would it be before Atos would be allowed to call a person in
    for another medical’ Atos Healthcare does not decide when to invite a claimant for a further
    Assessment, Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) instigates this action.

    NOT ONLY DOES HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATE AGAINST THESE THINGS, SO DO DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY LAWS………………

    THE GOVERNMENT ARE FUCKING WITH PEOPLES LIVES, SANCTIONS ARE THE PRODUCT OF AN EVIL REGIME.

    SANCTIONS AGAINST DISABLED ARE THE PRODUCT OF A “MURDERING REGIME”

    PLACE THE TWO TOGETHER AND YOU HAVE THE MAKINGS OF,

    “AN ACT OF ETHNIC CLEANSING BY LEGISLATION”

    ……….MURDER BY DECREE, ENDORSED BY THE QUEEN.

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        ………carry on as we are doing, we are gaining ground each day.

        The cumulative death toll, mortality statistics held from public view, are the very essence of our case………….

        If the PCS union had any bottle, which they haven’t. it would simplify our case no end.

        The executioners have been integrated into the whole sordid system, and as such are hardly going to help those they choose to inflict the pain upon.

        Public opinion is changing fast, although not fast enough…………..

        Nobody can continue to ignore their accusers, not even the coalition shambles.
        As long as i have the strength to carry on with our campaigns. i will…………

        The pen is always mightier than the sword and every line written against them is testament to a growing rebellion of hostility towards them.

        They choose to ignore the deafening toll of dissent, using the media to corrupt information to the masses. Now the media, especially the BBC, are coming under public pressure……….

        …………GOVERNMENTS COME AND GOVERNMENTS GO. THESE ARE NO DIFFERENT.

  95. Stepping Razor says:

    DWP stands firm on benefits sanctions – 4th Feb 2014

    THE Department for Work and Pensions has defended itself against scathing reports of unfair benefit sanctions.

    On Friday the Chronicle told the story of a man who was forced to give up work with heart problems and had his benefits axed for failing to complete a capability assessment — after suffering a heart attack during the examination.

    The man was one of several examples of claimants who have had benefits slashed for reasons they considerunfair.

    Many have taken their case to Oldham West and Saddleworth MP Debbie Abrahams, whose campaign over unfair sanctions has forced a Work and Pensions Committee review.

    But an unrepentant DWP insists decisions are taken only after “thorough assessment”.

    A DWP spokesman said: “We are committed to helping people move from benefits and into work if they are capable, while giving unconditional support to those who need it.”

    The spokesman said sanctions are used only as a last resort: “We make it clear to people at the start of their claim what the rules are and that they risk losing their benefits if they don’t play by them.”

    Oldham Chronicle –
    http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/84463/dwp-stands-firm-on-benefits-sanctions

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      A DWP spokesman said: “We are committed to helping people move from benefits and into work if they are capable, while giving unconditional support to those who need it.”

      The spokesman said sanctions are used only as a last resort: “We make it clear to people at the start of their claim what the rules are and that they risk losing their benefits if they don’t play by them.”

      — A last resort, so a heart attack means a last resort. The DWP don`t “play” by their own rules. Did the DWP give any medical help? NO just a sanction.

      If the man died at jobcentre plus the DWP would be held responsible with all that medical knowledge that they have.

      The DWP have no where to hide – The facts & the lies !!

  96. Stepping Razor says:

    Government under fire as figures show universal credit scheme is costing £225,000 per claimant to implement

      1. Stepping Razor says:

        At a cost of £225.000 per claimant the DWP must be defrauding because of the huge amount wasted or pocketed by the DWP. Saving Money In These Hard Times I See DWP & IDS.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      The personal information you supply will be processed in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of attributing the evidence you submit and contacting you as necessary in connection with its processing.

      —- The DWP are breaking the Data Protection Act 1998. Result. Simply law breaking DWP.

      1. nick says:

        The only evidence that needs to be supplied is from the friends and relatives of those that have died in going through the welfare reform process

        And from anyone who has suffered abuse from the ATOS/DWP staff for example

        here is one example of abuse for example

        http://samedifference1.com/blog/

    2. disabled-dave says:

      I’ve put mine in. they have a lot of rules to be followed such as numbered paragraphs, have to link to info rather than quote, make recomendations, and keep below 3000 words. It took a lot of editting but finally got down to 2985 words.

      My recomendations were:
      1 scrap the WCA now
      2 charge those responsible with crimes against humanity; I doubt they will follow these recommendations, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

      Now I have to wait to see if my report will be accepted by the committee.

  97. Stepping Razor says:

    Another £590 Million wasted on Capita`s new f**k Up.

    Billions & billions of £££ wasted in propaganda machines all using tax payers money to get rich. FRAUD !!

  98. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    THESE ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE WORKS AND PENSIONS SELECT COMMITTEE;

    Member Party Constituency
    Dame Anne Begg MP (Chair) Labour Aberdeen South
    Debbie Abrahams MP Labour Oldham East and Saddleworth
    Jane Ellison MP Conservative Battersea
    Graham Evans MP Conservative Weaver Vale
    Mike Freer MP Conservative Finchley and Golders Green
    Sheila Gilmore MP Labour Edinburgh East
    Glenda Jackson MP Labour Hampstead and Kilburn
    Stephen Lloyd MP Liberal Democrat Eastbourne
    Nigel Mills MP Conservative Amber Valley
    Anne Marie Morris Conservative Newton Abbot
    Teresa Pearce MP Labour Erith and Thamesmead

    AS IT STANDS, GLENDA JACKSON USUALLY GIVES A GOOD DIG AT ATOS, AS DOES TERESA PEARCE.
    SHEILA GILMORE HATES ATOS AND ALL IT STANDS FOR, CITING ATOS HCP QUALIFICATIONS ARE NOT WORTH A DAMN, RECOGNISED BY NO MEDICAL ORGANISATION.

    THE QUESTION YOU MUST ASK YOURSELVES IS,

    “WHY WOULD A COMMITTEE ORCHESTRATED BY DWP, FIND ITSELF CULPABLE IN ACTS THAT LED TO THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS?”

    I WOULD LIKE TO SEE TRANSPARENCY BUT DOUBT IT VERY MUCH…………………..

    THEY WILL NEVER RECOMMEND SCRAPPING WCA AS TOO MUCH MONEY HAS BEEN WASTED ALREADY.

    ALL THAT WILL HAPPEN IS A LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE , NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE , TESTS………

  99. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    DAME ANNE BEGG IS YET TO IMPRESS ME, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW!
    AS A DISABLED SHE SEEMS UNCLEAR WHAT TO DO FOR BEST AND DOES NOT PUSH DISABILITY ISSUES STRONGLY ENOUGH.

    WOULD LIKE HER TO CONDEMN ATOS STRONGLY…….

  100. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    DEBBIE ABRAHAMS HAS STATED THAT THE WCA IS NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE……………

    KEEP ON SAYING IT MY DEAR……….

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      A CHALLENGE;

      “pure,unadulterated evil”

      Try as i may, to understand why anybody would seek to do harm to another, is beyond me………..

      What kind of person, working for the DWP, could remove a persons benefits, knowing that it might lead them to commit suicide?

      How could an individual perpetrate this evil on another human being, let alone an animal?
      ……………and yet we see it every day in the newspapers!

      The role of the welfare system is supposed to help those in greatest need, not exacerbate their misery to fever pitch.

      Disability denial and the sanctioning of the poorest has suddenly become the norm in the UK, is it the altered mindset of the people that allow this, or something much more sinister?

      Since when has it become socially acceptable to kick those who are in most need, the vulnerable, the weak and the needy?

      I was brought up to recognise that we are not all created equal, that some carry a burden, and that burden however small, must be addressed accordingly……………………….

      The DWP is now, not a welfare organisation, but a tool of the state that is used to inflict pain, not interested in helping, honed to demonise.

      The PCS Union is the equivalent of Hitler’s SS, a regime that instils fear rather than aid……………………

      “USING THE AGE LONG EXCUSE OF, WE WERE ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS”, they continue to decimate the lives of innocent people at the behest of their evil paymasters, the DWP.

      How long can this union continue to butcher the innocent without someone breaking rank and making the “EVIL” available to the public?

      RUNNING AND HIDING IS THE ACT OF A COWARD, IT’S ABOUT TIME YOUR UNION GREW SOME BALLS AND STOPPED THE MURDER IN IT’S TRACKS…………………………..

      YOU ARE THE KEY TO EVERYTHING THAT IS ROTTEN AND FETID IN OUR ONCE PROUD NATION………………..

      EXPOSE THE GOVERNMENT FOR WHAT THEY ARE, or crawl into your protected job titles shivering like wobbling jellies, your knees knocking from the fear of sanctions that you dole out on a daily basis!

      “TARGETS, WHAT TARGETS?

      “SPEAK UP FOR FUCKS SAKE OR CARRY THE INDELIBLE STAIN OF BLOOD FOR ALL THE CASUALTIES OF YOUR WAR AGAINST THE WEAK”……………………………………………………………..

      I AM JUST ONE, YOU ARE MANY, TOGETHER YOU ARE A UNION……

      “USE THAT STRENGTH TO SPEAK OUT”

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        “DID YOU KNOW THAT A DWP DECISION MAKER IS NOW A FULLY QUALIFIED DOCTOR, ABLE TO MAKE DECISIONS ON BOTH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL AILMENTS”

        I WAS SENT A QUESTIONNAIRE THAT CONSISTED OF A SERIES OF TICK BOXES TO MEDICAL CONDITIONS.

        THE DWP DECISION MAKER, THE MOST HIGHLY QUALIFIED HEALTH PHYSICIAN IN THE COUNTRY, ABLE TO MAKE LIFE OR DEATH DECISIONS BY GOOGLING THE SYMPTOMS……………………..

        MIND YOU, THEY CAN STILL USE THE EXPERTISE (DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH), OF AN ATOS HEALTH WIZARD SOFTWARE PROGRAMME, AS A LAST RESORT, AFTER ALL OTHER PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTED!

        11. If there is insufficient evidence the designated person will advise an appropriate source of
        evidence to be obtained before a decision can be made on balance of probabilities.
        12. In exceptional circumstances, should all sources of evidence be exhausted and it is still not
        possible to reach a decision on balance of probabilities, the designated person may seek
        advice from ATOS using the DBD 385 via the medical evidence wizard.

        ………….DEATH BY INEXPERIENCE

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      “CHAPTERS FROM THE HEAVILY FINED AND DISCREDITED UNUM INSURANCE, UNLEASHED ON THE UK SICK”

      THIS MORNINGS NEWS HERALDED THE START OF A NEW HEALTH SCAM CAPER TO BE UNLEASED ON THE “LONG TERM SICK”.

      TO PUT IT BLUNTLY, ONCE AGAIN YOU ARE BEING TAKEN FOR A BIG RIDE BY THE SAME AMERICAN INSURANCE GIANT, UNUM, WHO WERE FINED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR RUNNING A MASSIVE DISABILITY DENIAL SCAM IN THE STATES………….

      A COUPLE OF YEARS BACK, UNUM STARTED ADVERTISING PRIVATE HEALTH CARE INSURANCE ON OUR TV CHANNELS BUT OUR GOVERNMENT WARNED THEM OFF BECAUSE THE LINKS TO OUR WELFARE REFORMS SMACKED OF COLLUSION!

      EVERY TIME OUR GOVERNMENT HAD MEETINGS ON WELFARE, GUESS WHO WAS PRESENT, UNUM OF COURSE!

      YOU ARE BEING SOLD DOWN THE RIVER BY A FEW WELL PLACED LOBBYISTS IN PROMINENT POSITIONS IN OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICES.

      THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY PAVING THE WAY FOR THE DEMISE OF OUR NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE TO BE REPLACED BY PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE.

      YESTERDAY IT WAS REPORTED THAT CIRCLE HEALTH HAD BEEN AWARDED A 1.5 BILLION HEALTH CONTRACT, THE ROT HAS ALREADY BEGUN………………

      DONATE TO THE TORIES, GET A FREE KNIGHTHOOD AND PROSPER BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS…………..

      TODAYS NEWS HIGHLIGHTS A NEW STRATEGY IN CONTROLLING LONG TERM SICKNESS, WITH A TARGET OF SAVING A PROJECTED 70 MILLION PER YEAR.

      THIS MY FRIEND, IS PURE BULLSHIT!!!!!

      THE DISCREDITED UNUM CORPORATION TRIED THIS EXACT STUNT IN THE USA.
      WHAT THEY INTEND TO HAPPEN, IS FIRMS SENDING EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE BEEN SICK FOR FOUR WEEKS OR MORE, TO AN ATOS (DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH), HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL……….

      NOT A REAL DOCTOR, OR YOUR EXISTING GP OR SPECIALIST, BUT TO AN INEXPERIENCED EX BED PAN WASHER WITH A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE FROM THE LIKES OF DERBY UNIVERSITY………….

      THATS RIGHT! YOU ARE TO BE EXAMINED AND RECOMMENDED FOR TREATMENT BY A COMPLETE CHARLATAN.

      YOU HAVE WITNESSED THE COMPLETE FUCK UP BY ATOS HEALTHCARE, THIS IS THE FINALE…………

      DOCTORS IN THE UK SHOULD BE UP IN ARMS ACROSS THE UK. MEDICAL BODIES SHOULD BE FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES.
      IT LOOKS LIKE ACCREDITED HEALTH WORKERS ARE SET TO BE MADE REDUNDANT ON THE WHIM OF A HEALTH INSURANCE RACKET.

      BUT DO NOT FEAR, THE NEW HEALTH CHECKS WILL NOT BE COMPULSORY, BULLSHIT I SAY………………….

      THERE IS ALWAYS A TWIST IN THE TRUTH WHERE THE DWP ARE CONCERNED………….

      IN THE USA IT WAS ALSO SOLD AS NON COMPULSORY, BUT WITH THE THREAT OF HAVING YOUR SICK PAY DOCKED IF YOU DIDN’T CONFORM.

      YOU ARE BEING SOLD DOWN THE RIVER, EACH AND EVERY DAY BY HEALTH LOBBYISTS WHO HAVE OUR GOVERNMENT IN THEIR BACK POCKETS………………

      THESE IDEAS ARE FAR FROM NEW, I WORKED IN A FIRM THAT TRIED TO PULL A FAST ONE, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.
      THEY TRIED TO SEND THE UNQUALIFIED FIRST AID WOMAN FROM THE FACTORY TO OUR HOMES TO SPEED UP OUR RECOVERY!

      THE UK IS DICING WITH DANGER,”WOULD YOU TRUST AN UNSKILLED GOVERNMENT LOCUM TO MAKE ASSESSMENTS ON YOUR HEALTH CAPABILITIES?”

      “I CERTAINLY WOULDN’T AND NEITHER WOULD ANYBODY ELSE WHO COULD SEE PRIVATE HEALTHCARE AS THE PRIME MOVER”

      GOOGLE UNUM AND VIEW THE CORRUPT LINKS TO OUR GOVERNMENT HEALTH BODIES, YOU WOULD BE AMAZED!

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        THE DWP ARE DESPERATE TO OFFLOAD THE BILL OF THE LONG TERM SICK……………….

        WHO BETTER TO HAND IT OVER TO, THAN THE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY, WHO WILL ALWAYS DEEM YOU FIT FOR WORK RATHER THAN PAY OUT………………………….

        WAKE UP BRITAIN……………..

  101. disabled-dave says:

    Not that I’m cynical, but what’s the betting it will go to Atos and you will have to go for a medical to prove you are still alive every year, then Atos will declare that you are dead and stop your payments?

  102. nigel simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – How to Make Money from Nothing – Banks Do
    What if you could use your computer to key in any figure you wanted into other people’s accounts as a Loan to them and the demand that they pay back this Money – Created from Nothing with Interest on top .
    For this is exactly how Private Banks make money from Nothing by just keying in figures into Customer Accounts .For when you take out a Loan from a Private Bank what you are really doing is giving the Bank Permission to create the very Money you Borrow from Nothing ,after which they claim it as theirs and Demand you to give it back to them at Interest .
    If loans that private banks use to ‘make money from nothing’ turn out to have been
    too risky, then governments spend Billions or even Trillions of pounds of Our Money to bail these banks out . The banks on the other hand, begin to Hoard their Money no longer lending to Individuals ,Small Businesses or even to each other ,but raising Bank Charges and Interest Rates and Refusing Morgages .Austerity – £332.4 Billion to bail out Banks since 2007 -£50.5 Billion Foreign Aid 2014 ?
    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – BANKS MAKE MONEY FROM NOTHING – THEN STEAL IT BACK AND ITS LEGAL
    Banks do not use Depositors Money for Morgages – if you go the Bank for a Mortgage they make New Money for it- just print it – it is just figures on paper but when you default they end up with a Property Worth Something when in fact they bought it for Nothing and You End Up on the Street . WHY NOT ASK – LET THEM KNOW WE KNOW
    http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ” THE DWP SEEK TO INCREASE THE DEATH TOLL”

      Half Of Claims For New Disability Benefit Rejected As Massive Backlog Develops
      Posted on February 11, 2014 by johnny void | 9 Comments

      atos-finalEarly figures from the DWP reveal that half of all claims for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been rejected. Appalling the figures also show that claimants are waiting up to six months for a decision on their claim whilst a massive backlog is developing.

      PIP replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and is currently being rolled out for new claims only in some parts of the UK. Most DLA claimants will not be re-assessed until Autumn 2015 when the notorious Atos, along with bungling Capita, will begin the work of stripping vital benefits from a fifth of disabled people.

      PIP began in April with 31,900 claims made by July, jumping to 99,600 by August and 171,800 by October. At the end of the year 229,700 total claims had been made for PIP. Despite this just 43,800 decisions had been made by December 2013.

      These figures include people with terminal conditions who are fast tracked through the process under special rules. When this group is removed from the figures, just 34,200 decisions had been made by December, despite a caseload of 22o,300 people awaiting a decision by the end of the year.

      Most of these claims were rejected. For those not covered by the ‘Special Rules For Terminally Ill People’ only 37% of PIP claims were successful.

      Government ministers have lied through their teeth to justify stripping away this vital benefit from disabled people. Last year Esther Mcvey made the astonishing claim that 50% of DLA claims were successful on the basis of the application form alone with no corroborating medical evidence. The true figure was around 10%.

      McVey also claimed that “vast majority of claimants get the benefit for life”. In truth only 23% of people received an ‘indefinite award’ in 2010 (PDF), and 24% in 2009.

      The worst impact of PIP is set to come after the next election – and Labour have not said they will halt the re-assessments if they win. But these early figures give a hint of the vicious shambles to come with almost a quarter of a million disabled people already waiting months on end for a benefit they need – but probably will not get.

      To read the latest figures visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-management-information

      Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid

  103. Stepping Razor says:

    Now we have the floods everything else is scrapped = has no meaning.

    The election winner is going to be on the floods.

    Trying to save London & the tube from the floods !! So the home counties are flooded !! To protect London from flooding !!

    At all cost, what ever it takes. —– 10 people drown !!

    Next week the famine & disease will start. The flooded people are having fights with the gov agencies, so send in the army to keep the peace from people rioting in a flood.

    On the spot again – Sand Bags make the water level higher if you have enough sand bags. The sinking ship literally !!

    Lots of floaters – Lets have a vote on it floaters !!

    Perhaps it all geos down sink holes like the welfare reform budget & antics & tax avoidance & denial factories.

    Just the tip of the iceburg for fast flowing water in rivers & underground rivers that are being created at present.

    SR

  104. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    Two thirds turned down for new disability benefit

    Two thirds of applicants for new disability benefit the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) have been turned down, the first official government statistics reveal.

    While over 99% of claims made for people with terminal illnesses were successful, figures reveal only 37% of standard PIP claims were granted a cash contribution towards the extra costs associated with a long-term health condition or disability.

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has received on average 30,000 claims per month for PIP, which was introduced for new claims in April.

    Now being rolled out for existing claims of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), PIP includes a face-to-face assessment and regular reviews.

    Evaluations assess a claimant’s ability to carry out a range of everyday activities alongside reading and verbal communication.

    According to the DWP, only 6% of new DLA claimants had a face-to-face assessment with a healthcare professional – meaning over half of all decisions under the previous system were made without additional corroborating evidence.

    Minister of state for disabled people, Mike Penning, said: ‘Personal Independence Payment has been designed to better reflect today’s understanding of disability – particularly to update our thinking on mental health and fluctuating conditions.

    ‘We are world-leaders in support for disabled people with the UK’s spending on disability-related benefits a fifth higher than the EU average. Our reforms – as part of our long-term economic plan – will ensure this support is better targeted at those who need it most.

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ………ANY TIME I SEE NEWS HEADLINES LIKE THIS, IT IS A GOOD INDICATION THE GOVERNMENT INTEND TO HIVE MORE RESOURCES TO THE BIG PRIVATE COMPANIES LIKE ATOS, A4E, CAPITA, SEETEC OR SERCO…………………..

      The training of social workers in England needs upgrading, with more emphasis put on practical skills, a government adviser has said.

      Sir Martin Narey also suggests some of the students recruited are not up to the job and that course standards vary.

      He is calling for tighter minimum entry standards and the standardisation of what is taught.

      The British Association of Social Workers says there is scope to improve the quality of training.

      ……….YOU CAN READ OUR GOVERNMENT LIKE A BOOK.

      FIRST THEY SLAG THE SERVICE, THEN THEY STATE IT NEEDS UPDATING, THEN THEY HAND IT TO THEIR RICH FRIENDS WHERE THE SERVICE WILL DETERIORATE EVEN FASTER……………….

  105. Stepping Razor says:

    Disabled people left in limbo while vital benefit decisions drag on

    NewStatesman – 13th Feb 2014

    Of the 229,700 new claims made since the Personal Independence Payment was introduced in April last year, only 43,800 decisions have been made.

    The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released new statistics on the number of completed applications for Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Out of a total 229,700 new claims made since the benefit was introduced in April last year, only 43,800 decisions have been made. Many disabled people are being left in limbo as they wait to find out whether they will receive this vital benefit.

    These statistics reveal a woefully low decision rate and suggest that we will see an even bigger backlog as more claims are added to the mix. Although some of these claims may be recent, a large number are not being decided within a reasonable time frame. Many of these cases will also be new applicants to the system, young people who have just turned 16, waiting to find out if they will get any support or not.

    PIP is the benefit that is replacing Disability Living Allowance and affects everyone with a disability of working age, whether they are able to work or not. The purpose of DLA was to contribute to the extra costs faced by disabled people with care, supervision or mobility needs. This might have been in the form of a communicator guide to allow a deafblind person to go shopping or attend appointments, or for a family to have a specially adapted car to accommodate a wheelchair. PIP will still contribute to these extra costs, but the Government want to focus the benefit on people with the ‘greatest needs’. In our experience, determining this need isn’t always as clear cut as the DWP might hope.

    Full Article NewStatesman:-
    http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/02/disabled-people-left-limbo-while-vital-benefit-decisions-drag

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      REPORT ON THE HIGH INCIDENCE OF SUICIDES AMONG BENEFIT CLAIMANTS

      People claiming benefits are up to six times more likely to commit suicide than men and women in work, according to new research published on Wednesday.

      The research was carried out by The Hague health board, national statistics office CBS and Leiden University’s medical centre. The researchers analysed the backgrounds of the 15,178 people who committed suicide in the Netherlands in the 10 years between 2002 and 2011.

      ‘We expected to see more suicides under benefit claimants but the differences were very notable,’ researcher Renske Gilissen told the Volkskrant. ‘Single men are considered more likely to commit suicide but being on benefits would also appear to be an important factor.’

      Women

      The research showed men on benefits were 4.5 times more likely to kill themselves, while women on benefits were six times as likely.

      The number of suicides in the Netherlands has risen steadily since 2007, when there were 1,345 deaths. Last year, there were 1,753 suicides. International studies have shown a link between rising unemployment and a rising suicide rate, the Volkskrant said.

      The researchers said more must be done to train social security officials, debt councillors and the police to spot signs of depression.

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        BILL GUNNYEON, THE CLOWN AT THE HELM OF THE DWP WHICH OVERSEES ANYTHING MEDICAL, MUST BE SHITTING HIMSELF OVER BEING SUED FOR THE SPIRALING DEATH COUNT UNDER HIS WATCH….

        APPARENTLY, THIS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST ASKS FOR CLARIFICATION OF HIS JOB ROLE…………..

        “YOU WILL NEVER GUESS”……………………

        IT HAS BEEN DESTROYED………….

        HOW CONVENIENT………….

        Dear Mr Wood,

        Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received 21January 2014. You asked;

        Please supply the job description of the DWP’s Chief Medical Adviser.

        A job description for the Chief Medical Adviser was produced as part of the recruitment
        exercise when the position was advertised in 2004 but the five year retention period for
        recruitment papers has now lapsed and the documents deleted/destroyed.

        As a member of the Senior Civil Service (SCS), the Chief Medical Adviser is subject to Civil
        Service wide performance management policies and procedures within a Cabinet Office
        framework. A member of the SCS will agree key work objectives with his/her line manager in
        line with these procedures and work objectives will be regularly reviewed to ensure alignment
        with Departmental priorities. There is no requirement to maintain a job description as part of
        this process.
        If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
        above.
        Yours sincerely,

        DWP Strategy FoI Team

  106. Humanity2012 says:

    People around Us Need to Stop being Hyponotised by All the
    Rubbish on TV the Radio and ” Newspapers ” and have a Brain
    and a Conscience and Think

    The Poor are Suffering The Poor Need Support it is Society’s
    Moral Duty to Help and Support the Poor Not to Oppress and
    Victimise the Poor like the Nasty Nazis Done

  107. disabled-dave says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-26223276

    So if the welfare reforms (to save money) have actually cost Wales £930 million, how much have they cost if you include Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland? There are around 3 million people in Wales and 60 million in the UK as a whole, so a rough estimate is:
    (£930,000,000/3)x60=£18,600,000,000

    So just in financial terms IDS’s reforms have cost the country over £18.5 billion, and what cost to the country do you put on millions of ruined lives?

    1. AL says:

      Pah! Stop belly aching Disabled Dave. The HARD working tax payers don’t mind a bit paying out extra so long as some one is suffering. Isn’t that what they all voted for? Read a statistic yesterday at least one person an hour is dying curtesy of ATOS. The boss gets around £44000 a week to salve his conscience. If ATOS get 110m for culling folks then what is it 10-12 grand for each corpse? (I can’t add up, the noughts befuddle me) Reckon that must be the rate for a hit man? Would be cheap at twice the price. Go on, do your sums. Each early death, what are the savings? And then compounded year on year. No pensions to pay either. I’m afraid ATOS is paying for itself and us bleating on about cost just gives goverment a good laugh. They can say ‘oh dear benefits cost so much money we much have another few thousand sanctions to pay for them’ and all the savings can be put towards a tea party or drying out the home counties. Rally the troups, swallow your meds and off we go to ATOS on Wednesday to show solidarity with others affected. What ever happens we have to support each other. We are not alone. We are not bad. We don’t deserve inhumane treatment. Each one of us is here for a reason and it is not up to anyone even the government to question our right to life.

      Just an aside, got the date for my tribunal and a few positive vibes from kind people would be much appreciated. Stress levels are a little high.

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        Hi Al, just to let you know that i am at a tribunal in Scarborough tomorrow afternoon.

        Mine is to get my DLA reinstated. They stopped it last July because i did not fill in and return a questionnaire.
        They said that they had to know how my disability affects me in order to ascertain if they are paying the right amount of benefit.

        I wrote back to them and said my circumstances have not changed.

        Having been on it for fourteen years, holding documents from their own doctors that state my disablement would not change in the forseeable future, i thought my answer was reasonable…..

        They send out tick box questionnaires in order to rob you of your benefits. Whatever you put will be misconstrued to make out they think your circumstances have changed, hence sending you to another ATOS examination, where it will be stolen anyway.

        It is my second tribunal Al, the first one was for ESA on 13 January. This one was adjourned for medical reports from my GP.

        Incidentally i made a formal complaint about the magistrate in my first tribunal as she talked down to me like i was dirt!
        Regardless of countless pages of evidence i had submitted about my disability, it was completely overlooked.
        Take someone with you, i did.

        The DWP and the courts, piss in the same pot. Both bear the Royal crest of complicity in disability denial…………….

        p.s. one of the questions in the questionnaire they sent me was, “How many days a week does your disability affect you?”

        Strangely my DLA tribunal has sent me papers that state ” Mr Reynolds disability is not in doubt, we stopped his DLA for not completing an enquiry form”,

        Yet the ESA tribunal does not accept my disability.

        They have even stated that evidence from DLA cannot be used in cases relating to ESA because both departments are seperate………..

        I have never heard such bullshit in my life….

        1. AL says:

          Geoff I hope your appeal goes better than before and sanity will finally prevail. Hopefully there are nice judges too. I can’t get an advocate, no-one has the funds any more, but I have a friend to take me. Keep trying to tell myself I have 45 mins to make it all about me and that’s a treat isn’t it? All those highly paid people hanging on my every word. I’ve been practicing saying ‘your honour’ currently it sounds facetious but I’ve got plenty of time to perfect it and stress about it. By the time I get to the tribunal I will have endured this start to finish, for 19 months which means no doubt, I’m due another ATOS experience any time now. When Professor Harrington said the WCA was inhumane, he wasn’t kidding.

          1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

            Regardless of the outcome today, i will not stop. I am like a dog with a bone and won’t let go…………..

            I was a union convener in a factory of sixteen hundred, representing four unions, you are never beaten until the last hurdle.

            They call it a hearing but they will try to stifle your input, trying to reduce it to a yes no format.
            Try to get a word in edgeways, be polite and don’t ever forget, that you are the victim of disability denial.

            Last nights debate on benefit street showed clearly the rising tide of discontent about the oppression of the welfare state on society.

            Keep your head up mate, they only rely on quitters, i am not one!

  108. Humanity2012 says:

    There is No Kindness and Decency without Morality

    Oppression of the Poor is an Embodiment of a Lack of Decency
    and Kindness and thus of a Lack of Morality

    1. AL says:

      We are part of a social experiment started in 2010 and continuing til 2017. They do not wish to waver from the policy. Can they modify the poor? it will take time but clearly they think so. I guess even dead people are modified. I doubt it is important in what way people are modified, so long as they need less benefit.

      Lord freud said it the other day in commitee about the bedroom tax, even disabled people could modify their behaviour in order to pay for their spare rooms. Dunno what he expects, paraplegics to grow legs? bed bound people to suddenly be employable? He wasn’t specific. Perhaps we sell our freakishness on line for profit? Will the Hard working tax payer enjoy being voyeour to our pathetic lives? How much should we charge? It can’t be much worse than endlessly parading in front of ATOS and DWP and tribunals can it?

  109. Toddy says:

    Your comment is awaiting moderation.
    February 18, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    Just been with GEOFF REYNOLDS to his tribunal in Scarborough.

    They had stopped his DLA and he was fighting to have it reinstated.
    Geoff put forward a powerful case but sadly the decision went against him.

    Geoff is registered disabled for life and they refused him his lifeline, what kind of evil bastards are running our country?

    He told the magistrate that he has a seventeen year old son at college, a partner who works a couple of afternoons at Marks and Spencer and is struggling to live on £32 per week.

    Outlining that they were living on cup a soup, cream crackers and out of date, 8p mushy peas, the panel did not show any feeling whatsoever.

    I was completely stunned at the verdict.

    I have witnessed disability denial that i thought i would never see in this day and age.

    What is happening is pure unadulterated evil, perpetrated at the most vulnerable.

    Toddy.

  110. Toddy says:

    Just been with GEOFF REYNOLDS to his tribunal in Scarborough.

    They had stopped his DLA and he was fighting to have it reinstated.
    Geoff put forward a powerful case but sadly the decision went against him.

    Geoff is registered disabled for life and they refused him his lifeline, what kind of evil bastards are running our country?

    He told the magistrate that he has a seventeen year old son at college, a partner who works a couple of afternoons at Marks and Spencer and is struggling to live on £32 per week.

    Outlining that they were living on cup a soup, cream crackers and out of date, 8p mushy peas, the panel did not show any feeling whatsoever.

    I was completely stunned at the verdict.

    I have witnessed disability denial that i thought i would never see in this day and age.

    What is happening is pure unadulterated evil, perpetrated at the most vulnerable.

    Toddy.

  111. Toddy says:

    HELLO AL

    Just been with GEOFF REYNOLDS to his tribunal in Scarborough.

    They had stopped his DLA and he was fighting to have it reinstated.
    Geoff put forward a powerful case but sadly the decision went against him.

    Geoff is registered disabled for life and they refused him his lifeline, what kind of evil bastards are running our country?

    He told the magistrate that he has a seventeen year old son at college, a partner who works a couple of afternoons at Marks and Spencer and is struggling to live on £32 per week.

    Outlining that they were living on cup a soup, cream crackers and out of date, 8p mushy peas, the panel did not show any feeling whatsoever.

    I was completely stunned at the verdict.

    I have witnessed disability denial that i thought i would never see in this day and age.

    What is happening is pure unadulterated evil, perpetrated at the most vulnerable.

    Toddy.

    1. AL says:

      This tribunal sounds awful and doesnt give much hope to the rest of us. We have to have change. Hopefully those that can will make the trip to London on Thursday, we need a good turn out to show how important the Benefits issues are. wowpetition will have their day in parliament and we need to give them our full support.

      Those of us that can’t go, can do our bit. Positive thinking, meditation, praying, what ever way you feel inclined. Ask that good will triumph over evil. I’d like sanity to see prevail before we decend in to anarchy. The British public will only take so much and our government know it, hence they are considering water cannon. Hence work programmes containing those who might help protest with the risk of sanctions if they don’t comply. Pensioners need to support us because it’s clear that they are next on the hit list.

  112. Toddy says:

    ok al

    Just been with GEOFF REYNOLDS to his tribunal in Scarborough.

    They had stopped his DLA and he was fighting to have it reinstated.
    Geoff put forward a powerful case but sadly the decision went against him.

    Geoff is registered disabled for life and they refused him his lifeline, what kind of evil bastards are running our country?

    He told the magistrate that he has a seventeen year old son at college, a partner who works a couple of afternoons at Marks and Spencer and is struggling to live on £32 per week.

    Outlining that they were living on cup a soup, cream crackers and out of date, 8p mushy peas, the panel did not show any feeling whatsoever.

    I was completely stunned at the verdict.

    I have witnessed disability denial that i thought i would never see in this day and age.

    What is happening is pure unadulterated evil, perpetrated at the most vulnerable.

    Toddy.

  113. Stepping Razor says:

    NHS Care Data has now been delayed for another 6 months. Was meant to start in April but is not going ahead until at least the autumn 2014. Another failure.

    1. AL says:

      Hurrah! But it’s gonna cost the HARD working tax payer tho. Did you hear on BBC the minister say none of the data is safe anyway so why not share for the common good? That really gives me confidence.

  114. Stepping Razor says:

    He would say that about the hidden cash cows [hidden costs] of head counts that makes the whole thing possible. The GPs have stood up & refuse to take responsibility to notify the public & the sanctions the GP`s will get if they don`t comply to a failed head count for cash, as in cash cows. Hustle a hustler – It`s called trading of the blatant kind. So what does it matter for the company directors failure to do any work. Easy tax payers money it`s not. That fiddle have been played out in fraud of the disabled.

    SR

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      “KNOW YOUR PLACE 2″

      YESTERDAY I ATTENDED A TRIBUNAL TO TRY AND GET MY DLA REINSTATED.
      IT HAD BEEN STOPPED LAST JULY BECAUSE I DID NOT FILL IN A QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT MY DISABILITY AND HOW IT AFFECTS ME.

      STRANGELY THEY NEEDED THE INFORMATION TO SEE IF I WAS GETTING THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF BENEFIT…………

      I THOUGHT THIS RATHER STRANGE, AS I HAD NOT REPORTED A CHANGE OF CIRCUMSTANCE AND THE DWP’S OWN DOCTORS HAD AGREED MY DISABILITY WAS UNLIKELY TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.

      THE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS TITLED, DLA80 OCTOBER 2011?

      I HAVE BEEN EXISTING ON £32.23P SINCE THEY STOPPED MY DLA. THIS PAYMENT IS INDUSTRIAL INJURIES BENEFIT.

      UPON ENTERING THE COURTROOM I WAS FACED BY THREE PEOPLE, A MAN IN THE CENTRE, WITH A WOMAN EITHER SIDE.
      THE MAN INTRODUCED HIMSELF, TELLING ME HE WAS A SOLICITOR OR LAWYER.

      HE THEN INTRODUCED THE WOMAN TO HIS LEFT, AND STATED THAT, “I THINK YOU HAVE MET BEFORE”.

      HE THEN WENT ON TO TELL ME THAT THERE WAS ANOTHER LADY PRESENT AT THE SIDE OF THE ROOM AND THAT SHE WAS JUST AN ONLOOKER, A PERSON WHO WAS GOING TO JOIN THE TRIBUNAL PANEL AT A FUTURE DATE.

      THE LADY FROM THE DWP MUST HAVE THEREFORE, SAT TO HIS RIGHT.

      WHAT ASTONISHED ME FROM THE OUTSET, WAS HOW A FEMALE DOCTOR THAT HAD BEEN PRESENT AT ANOTHER ESA TRIBUNAL I HAD PREVIOUSLY ATTENDED, BE SITTING ON THE SAME BENCH????

      IF, AS THE COURTS SYSTEM PROFESSES TO BE, TRULY INDEPENDENT…………

      WHAT WAS SHE DOING HERE AT ALL?

      ………….AND WHO WAS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN ATTENDING AT THE SIDE?

      I ASKED THE MAN, THE CHAIRMAN, WHY I WAS SENT A QUESTIONNAIRE RELATING TO DLA, AND DATED 2011, WHEN I HAD BEEN INFORMED ON 3RD MARCH LAST YEAR THAT PIP WOULD BE INTRODUCED ON THE 8TH APRIL LAST YEAR, TO SUPERSEDE DLA PAYMENTS………..

      IN FURTHER CONVERSATION I MADE IT PLAINLY CLEAR THAT I HAD BEEN INFORMED ON THREE OCCASIONS BY DWP, THAT THE STOPPAGE OF MY DLA COULD NOT BE APPEALED.
      AFTER A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST I WAS TOLD THAT IT COULD BE APPEALED, AND SHOWED HIM THE REQUEST TO PROVE IT…..

      QUOTING STATEMENTS FROM PIP LEGISLATION I TOLD HIM THAT ACCORDING TO WHAT THE DWP TELL US, PIP REPLACED DLA AND ALL PREVIOUS AWARDS, WHETHER FOR LIFE OR SHORT PERIODS HAD COME TO AN END.

      HE EXPLAINED THAT THIS WAS NOT THE CASE, THAT ANY AWARD UNDER EXISTING DLA, STILL STOOD!

      EXPLAINING THAT I WAS STRUGGLING TO LIVE, THE AMOUNT I RECEIVED WAS BELOW THE MINIMUM THE DWP STIPULATED, NONE OF THE BENCH BATTED AN EYELID.

      I EXPLAINED THAT I WAS SURVIVING ON CREAM CRACKERS, CUP A SOUP AND OUT OF DATE, 8P MUSHY PEAS………

      STILL NO REACTION……

      MENTIONING I HAD A SON OF SEVENTEEN AND A PARTNER WHO WORKED AT M&S FOR A FEW AFTERNOONS, GOT NOWHERE FAST.

      THE BENCH ASKED ME TO LEAVE AND ON DELIBERATION SAID I HAD LOST MY CASE.

      I TOLD HIM TO STICK IT UP HIS ARSE!

      …………WHAT I FIND MILDLY AMUSING IS THAT A LADY HAD PUT FORWARD A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST, ASKING THE DWP IF PIP COULD BE SANCTIONED.

      THE DWP HAD SENT BACK A MESSAGE STATING PIP COULD NOT BE SANCTIONED.

      ON THE SAME DOCUMENT THEY ALSO LISTED OTHER BENEFITS WHICH COULD NOT BE SANCTIONED, AMONG THEM DLA………..

      “sanctionable benefit” means (subject to subsection (2) and to any regulations under section
      10(1)) any disqualifying benefit other than–
      (a) joint-claim jobseeker’s allowance;
      (b) any retirement pension;
      (c) graduated retirement benefit;
      (ca) personal independence payment;
      (d) disability living allowance;
      (e) attendance allowance;
      (f) child benefit;
      (fa) child tax credit; (fb) working tax credit;
      (g) guardian’s allowance;
      (h) a payment out of the social fund in accordance with Part 8 of the Social Security
      Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;
      (i) a payment under Part 10 of that Act (Christmas bonuses).
      If you have any queries about this letter please contact us quoting the reference number
      above.
      Yours sincerely,

      DWP Central FoI Team

      1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

        Have any of the readers ever noticed the handiwork of the DWP’S now infamous, psychobabble “NUDGE UNIT”.

        Yes, the part of the DWP that they have decided to get rid of before the full story comes out………….

        Every document written by the DWPcontains some hidden, veiled threat to take away your benefits unless you comply.

        I will give you a couple of examples;

        DLA QUESTIONNAIRE,
        CONSENT,
        WE MAY WANT TO CONTACT YOUR GP, OR THE PEOPLE OR ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED WITH YOU, FOR INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CLAIM. THIS MAY INCLUDE MEDICAL INFORMATION.

        YOU DO NOT HAVE TO AGREE TO US CONTACTING THESE PEOPLE, BUT IF YOU DON’T AGREE, WE MAY BE UNABLE TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE ENTITLED TO THE BENEFIT YOU ARE CLAIMING.
        PLEASE TICK ONE OF THE OPTIONS AND SIGN BELOW.
        ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
        BLUE BADGE SCHEME;

        PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING DECLARATION.
        PLEASE SIGN THE BOX ON THE FOLLOWING PAGE TO INDICATE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE WITH EACH DECLARATION.

        NOT TICKING ONE OF THESE DECLARATIONS MAY MEAN WE ARE UNABLE TO SUPPLY YOU WITH A BLUE BADGE…………..

        ………even stranger, on the blue badge application it states;
        I AGREE TO THE LOCAL AUTHORITY CONTACTING AN ACCREDITED HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL IF NECESSARY, FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING FURTHER INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF MY APPLICATION.
        also…
        I UNDERSTAND THAT I MAY BE REQUIRED TO UNDERTAKE A MOBILITY ASSESSMENT WITH A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL, WHO IS INDEPENDENT OF MY EXISTING CARE AND TREATMENT, IN ORDER TO DETERMINE MY ELIGIBILITY FOR A BLUE BADGE…….

        SINISTER HOW AN UNQUALIFIED, EX BED PAN WASHER CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR DISABILITY FREEDOMS?

  115. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY AGAIN, TO STRESS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR A CLAIMANT TO HAVE ALL THE FACTS AT HAND WHEN CHALLENGING A DWP DECISION………

    IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO REQUEST ALL INFORMATION THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS HOLD ON YOU.

    SEND THEM A LETTER, RECORDED DELIVERY OF COURSE, AND ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

    IT COSTS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING……………….

    GIVE IT A GO!!!!

    MY INFORMATION ARRIVED IN THREE LARGE ENVELOPES AND WAS OVER SEVEN INCHES, 18CM DEEP.

    STRANGELY MY HISTORY SHOWED THAT I HAD EASILY MAINTAINED OVER 15 POINTS, NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE BENEFITS IN THE PAST, YET WHEN TESTED BY ATOS, ACHIEVED ZERO………

  116. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    DON’T FORGET

    I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY AGAIN, TO STRESS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR A CLAIMANT TO HAVE ALL THE FACTS AT HAND WHEN CHALLENGING A DWP DECISION………

    IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO REQUEST ALL INFORMATION THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND PENSIONS HOLD ON YOU.

    SEND THEM A LETTER, RECORDED DELIVERY OF COURSE, AND ASK FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

    IT COSTS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING……………….

    GIVE IT A GO!!!!

    MY INFORMATION ARRIVED IN THREE LARGE ENVELOPES AND WAS OVER SEVEN INCHES, 18CM DEEP.

    STRANGELY MY HISTORY SHOWED THAT I HAD EASILY MAINTAINED OVER 15 POINTS, NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE BENEFITS IN THE PAST, YET WHEN TESTED BY ATOS, ACHIEVED ZERO………

  117. Ian says:

    funny how Atos gave me 0 points and I was awarded 39 at tribunel.The DWP should hang their heads in shame!

    1. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

      ……terrible IAN, THEY SHOULD BE BROUGHT BEFORE A COURT OF LAW AND CONVICTED OF “TRYING TO GAIN PECUNIARY ADVANTAGE BY DECEPTION”

      SADLY THEY ARE ONLY ACTING ON ORDERS FROM THE BIGGEST THIEVES IN THE LAND, THE DWP…….

      THE UK DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE……….

    2. AL says:

      A bit of good news. Good for you Ian! Who knew 39 points was possible? Do you still have a pulse? So for the competitive among us that’s the score to beat. Did a little light protestesting at ATOS today. It was quite jolly. Lot’s of honking from supportive drivers as they passed us by. Police came to look and have a chat. Had to leave early coz seriously done in, but at least I went to show support. Nice to meet others who have a heart and want to see the end of this inhumane form of testing. We got about 30seconds local news coverage. I blinked and missed most of it.

      Sorry for Geoff look like they have marked your card. Feels like this game is just a lottery

  118. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “THE DWP WOULD NEVER TELL BLATANT LIES, SURELY?

    Dear Mr Reynolds
    Freedom of Information Act – Request for Information
    Our Reference: FOI IR 0306

    Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) review request which was received on 28
    March 2013. In that request, you asked for a review of your FOI reference 5116.

    You asked:

    I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions’s handling of
    my FOI request ‘U n u m corporations failure to record a conflict of interest.’.

    Its quite obvious that there is a conflict of interest, hence your reluctance to answer.

    Please be assured that your request has been given our full consideration and that all aspects of
    your review were taken fully into account.

    The review was conducted by an independent official of the Department, of the relevant grade
    and authority to carry out such requests. The case has been examined afresh, and guidance has
    been sought from domain experts to ensure all factors were taken fully into account.

    After consideration the internal review has confirmed that DWP does not hold any information on
    the Corporation identified above, as they are not connected to the DWP Medical Services
    Contract.

    You might find it helpful if I explain that Freedom of Information (FoI) Act is about the supply of
    recorded information held by the Department rather than explaining or confirming whether your
    assumptions are correct or not.

    If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

    Yours sincerely

    DWP Business Management Team
    Health & Disability Assessments (Operations)
    ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

    ………and yet;

    13. UnumProvident is actively engaged with the Government, policy-makers and large employers to share best practice and to see where our systems and approaches might be applied more widely. We are currently working with the Department of Work and Pensions on this, and have had discussions with officials in HM Treasury and the Prime Minister’s office. We have met with officials to help better understand the nature of the IB casebook, and to discuss how our commercial experience and expertise might be more widely applied. In addition, we will shortly be supporting the National Employment Panel in its work on the New Deal for Disabled People through a secondment of one of our senior managers.

  119. Stepping Razor says:

    The DWP sent me another Income Support form last month to fill out. It`s been blanked by me & still getting full SDA. Of course I am not going to fill it out, it`s a Income Support form, it`s not even a ESA50 or a PIP form. You may be losing out is the dwp`s catch phrase.

    It is impossible for the DWP to cut my monies because I have not filled in any thing or signed any thing so as my circumstances have changed.

    The fiddle was to get people to sign their lives away by filling out a bogus form. The dwp think I am not disabled to get out of charging me with 30 years of dwp fraud = £350,000 at least. No dwp you charge me with dwp fraud & stop avoiding the question.
    Still no joy, just another income support form that goes in the bid or trading. I have 5 Income Support Forms to fill out now running 5 different IDs. The DWP open to fraud. The DWP fraud policy.

  120. Stepping Razor says:

    Don`t Sign Your Life Away For DWP Fraud.

    Who`s circumstances have changed !! Not the disabled people`s but the DWP`s circumstances have changed. Jobcentre plus circumstances have changed because they work with the Integrity Department. I see David Cameron as a stand comedian making jokes about failures.

  121. Stepping Razor says:

    FOI Request on DWP Fruad for the workers in the DWP & Jobcentre Plus.

    Answer. We can not give you that information.

    FOI Fraud.

  122. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    THATS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT RAZOR, THEY STOPPED MY MONEY BECAUSE I REFUSED TO FILL IN A QUESTIONNAIRE THAT ASKED ABOUT MY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN THOUGH THEIR OWN DOCTORS HAVE SAID THEY WILL NOT CHANGE IN THE FUTURE….

    THE QUESTIONNAIRE ASKED FOR A SIGNATURE THAT SAID I WOULD GIVE PERMISSION TO THEM TO SEND ME FOR ANOTHER BOGUS APPRAISAL IF THEY DEEMED MY CIRCUMSTANCES HAD CHANGED.

    WHATEVER THE CLAIMANT WROTE ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE, THEY WOULD DEEM IT TO BE A CHANGE AND WHISK YOU OFF TO AN EX BEDPAN WASHER FOR A BOGUS MEDICAL REPORT.

    SAME OLD VEILED THREATS ON THE QUESTIONNAIRE, “IF YOU DON’T AGREE, WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO PAY YOUR BENEFITS”……………………….

    WHAT A FUCKING LAUGH!!!

    I HAVE BEEN LIVING ON INDUSTRIAL INJURY BENEFIT OF £32 PER WEEK SINCE LAST JULY, AND I HAVE A GROWN UP SON AND A PARTNER……………….

    THE MINUTE YOU SIGN ANY DOCUMENT FROM THE DWP YOU ARE,

    “ENTERING INTO A CONTRACT AND HAVE GIVEN UP YOUR RIGHTS”

    YOU ARE BEING HERDED TO GO FOR AN EXAMINATION OF YOUR ABILITY TO WORK, IN FRONT OF A STATE SPONSORED CHARLATAN WHO HAS BEEN ON A SHORT COURSE TO GET A GLOSSY CERTIFICATE, NOT RECOGNISED EVEN IN DEEPEST PERU…………………

    ATOS AND ALL THE OTHER FINANCIAL MALINGERERS THAT PURPORT TO UTILISE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS ARE NOTHING BUT A SPIN OFF, OF THE DISABILITY DENIAL MACHINE OF UNUM CORPORATION OF AMERICA.

    I AM COMPLETELY BEWILDERED WHY THE AUTHENTICITY OF A CHARLATANS STATEMENT, OVER THAT OF A TRUE DOCTOR, HAS BEEN GIVEN ANY CREEDENCE IN THE UK.

    THEY ALL SING FROM THE SAME SONG SHEET, THESE BASTARDS………………

    REPLACING ATOS WITH ANY OTHER IS JUST A THREE CARD SHUFFLE………..

    SAME OLD SHIT, DIFFERENT UNIFORM!

  123. AL says:

    During ATOS Demos some offices closed, staff didn’t go to work and Clients were sent home. How many days before ATOS would cave in if there was a demo every day? If we were fit, surely thats what we would do? Right now one day of action must be like getting extra holiday. Funny, if we don’t turn up to ATOS (for any reason) we are threatened with losing our benefit. If the staff don’t turn up because they are too scared, it’s fine. The claimants who turned up only to be turned away will have stressed, will have had to arrange transport and a companion and likely didn’t even get their expenses paid if the office was closed. Now they will have to have to do the whole sorry performance again or risk being left with no income. ATOS HCP’s really do not give a tos!

  124. Stepping Razor says:

    The Welfare Reform is the conservatives flag ship election winner !! So nothing can come between that, not even the voters. At any cost just to win the election. Capita is the new atos carrying out false medical fraud. Life is perfect – Wages up – Unemployment down – in fact everything is perfect with no problems & on course for a election win. I work with spanners in the works. Disability is not a political issue, it is a human rights issue. Freedom, Equality & Justice for all. All getting ready for a 4th recession. Labour had 1 recession, the conservatives have had 2 recession since in office 2010 & another one just around the corner. Billions being wasted on a DWP cover up, which is far far more than the whole welfare bill used to be. No one is spending money, no one is buying houses, it is a false confidence trick, because will all need confidence to get the country up & running again. So there is no foundation just confidence tricksters. It`s like the wizard of oz – you go on a long journey just to find out the wizard of oz is a bullshitter.

    SR

  125. Stepping Razor says:

    Atos may lose fit-for-work tests contract as ministers line up rival firms

    Government seeking additional providers to offer further capacity and then take over contract, leaked DWP review says.

    The Guardian – Monday 17 February 2014

    The government is preparing to oust Atos Healthcare from its £500m contract administering millions of fit-for-work tests for sick and disabled people, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

    A leaked Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) financial review says ministers across government are working together to build up competition to the multinational company by commissioning other private firms to add “further capacity” to the assessment system. The DWP will then enable “these providers to take over the whole contract” from Atos after the present agreement expires in 2015.

    Atos has become the lightning rod for widespread public and political anger over the health test, known as the work capability assessment. The test has been criticised by MPs and campaigners as crude and inhumane, amid mounting evidence that hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people have been wrongly judged to be fit for work and ineligible for government support.

    Ministers have been in private discussions with the company since the summer over the quality of its operation. Last week the disability minister Mike Penning told MPs that Atos’s work had caused “real concern” because too many people appeal against their decisions.

    Penning also said the current contract setup, with a single company holding a monopoly on the contract, was “flawed”. He was responding to the Liberal Democrat MP Mark Williams, who said complaints from his constituents about the work capability tests had reached a “head of steam”.

    “I’m not just getting constituents …coming to me but actually I’m getting them saying the DWP themselves are saying ‘go and complain to your MP’. Surely at that point we have to ask if the system is working in the appropriate way? We are talking about some of the most vulnerable people after all,” Williams said.

    Labour introduced the work capability assessment in 2008 to stem the rise in new incapacity benefit claims, and the coalition rapidly expanded the scheme in 2010 to reassess all 1.5 million people on sickness benefits, despite a warning from the government adviser Malcolm Harrington that the tests should be improved before being rolled out.

    Last year the work and pensions select committee said the government’s handling of the assessment was “damaging public confidence” and causing claimants “considerable distress”. The committee said the problems with the computer-led, points-based assessment “lay firmly with the DWP”, but added that the department was failing to apply “sufficient rigour or challenge to Atos”.

    More than 600,000 appeals have been lodged against Atos judgments since the work capability assessments began, costing the taxpayer £60m a year. In four out of 10 cases the original decisions are overturned.

    High-profile cases include people who reportedly have been found fit to work despite having debilitating terminal cancer, and instances of people who have been pursued for examinations while they have been lying in a coma.

    Private providers likely to be in the frame for the next contract – the current one is worth £115m a year – include G4S, Serco, A4E and Capita Group, who are all listed on the government’s existing “framework” group of preferred bidders for outsourced welfare work.

    Marked “restricted”, the 80-page DWP efficiency review says: “The department is working with Her Majesty’s Treasury and Cabinet office colleagues to seek additional [health assessment] providers to offer further capacity in the short-term and for these providers to then take over the whole contract.”

    It goes on to say that civil servants are “involved in ongoing discussions with Atos Healthcare regarding the quality of the service delivered”.

    An Atos spokeswoman described the contract as “outdated”, saying that in its current form it wasn’t working for “claimants, for the DWP or for Atos Healthcare”.

    She said: “The department has made it clear that it is considering bringing additional providers on board. We recognise that many people have strong feelings about work capability assessments. The constant flow of criticism inevitably has an impact on our staff who diligently endeavour to carry out assessments as laid out in DWP guidelines. We are committed to working with the department to help them meet their needs and the needs of claimants.”

    The admission that the government is planning to oust Atos would appear to be a contravention of public competition and tendering rules – a quasi-judicial process in which government bodies cannot favour one company over another before contract bids are entered.

    One expert in competition law at a London firm specialising in commissioning practices said public procurement required contracts to be awarded on a fair and non-discriminatory basis. The legal expert who did not want to be named, said: “In short, if you have decided up front that you’re going to exclude so-and-so, that’s likely to be unlawful.”

    Last month the Atos boss Joe Hemming told a Commons committee that the company was proud of its work. “We have a real passion for delivering services to the citizen in a way that continues to satisfy the way the citizen wants to be served,” he said. The Labour MP Paul Flynn accused Hemming of suffering from a “reality problem”.

    A DWP spokesperson said the department did not comment on leaked documents, but told the Guardian there was no breach of public procurement rules.

    “In July we announced Atos had been instructed to enact a quality improvement plan to remedy the unacceptable reduction in quality identified in the written reports provided to the department,” the spokesperson said. “We also announced in the summer we will be bringing in additional provision to deliver work capability assessments with the aim of increasing delivery capacity and reducing waiting times.”

    They added that a forthcoming “invitation to tender” would set out that “the quality of assessments and service delivery is central” to the system.

    The Guardian –
    http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/17/atos-fit-for-work-tests-contract

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      Atos are a fraud company working with the dwp another fraud company. The bad reputation means no other company will take it on. The DWP job is fraud & will be charged with fraud & other charges in the near future.

      It`s called slander.

      But it is slander of the disabled to now slander the dwp & atos & unum.

      Time to charge me for slander of the criminal kind.

    2. Stepping Razor says:

      That makes the whole Atos/DWP medicals invalid !! Let`s start again. What a waste of tax payers money !!

  126. Stepping Razor says:

    “Private providers likely to be in the frame for the next contract – the current one is worth £115m a year – include G4S, Serco, A4E and Capita Group, who are all listed on the government’s existing “framework” group of preferred bidders for outsourced welfare work.”

    Each of these companies are failures & have a reputation of failure.

    Are the government that stupid !! What`s more stupid than stupid.

  127. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    The government love to churn out shit, pretending one company having a monopoly was flawed…………………….

    Monopoly has fuck all to do with it!

    “It’s the content of the initial contract that specifies targets to be used, that is the problem”

    …………..coupled with the medical knowledge of an ex bed pan cleaner having more merit than your own qualified doctors.

    GIVE A WAGE AND A TARGET TO AN EMPLOYEE AND THEY WILL ALWAYS DELIVER THE TARGET YOU REQUESTED, BENDING THE RULES TO MAINTAIN THAT TARGET IN ORDER TO SATISFY THEIR OWN PAYMENT…………………………………..

    ……human nature

    “THE GROWING TREND IN RISING MORTALITY STATISTICS MAY BE A PRICE WORTH PAYING IN ACHIEVING A GOAL FOR THIS GOVERNMENT”

    ………..THE OBITUARY COLUMNS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY, OF FAMILIES WITHOUT LOVED ONES WHO HAVE DIED AS A RESULT OF SHEER LUNACY.

    FAILURE TO RECOGNISE THE FLAWED LOGIC OF A RENEGADE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY……..UNUM

  128. AL says:

    Been thinking, Arch Bishop of Westminster stood up for the poor blaming the benefits system and Cameron attacked him. Frankly the PM was downright rude. Bad form I thought. Why do people attack? because they feel attacked, afraid, wrong even? doesn’t want to admit it?

    I know they have slanging matches in parliament but on TV and against the Church, that was uncalled for. I feel ashamed to have a man like that represent our country, what ever his politics or beliefs he should know how to behave. I seriously doubt that the Arch bishop is out of touch, he didn’t sound like he was. He sounded to be pretty spot on.

    Whether you are a religious person or not, respect for others beliefs is important and the church do actually work day in day out with real people. They are at the forefront in comunities collecting for food banks and helping people.

    We are still a Christian country, our bishops sit in the house of lords, our PM should show a decent example and uphold and respect the church and those who serve within it.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      What I found really rude by DC was he was talking about morals & that the comment & church has no morals & that DC himself was the only one with morals.

      Go & get an education DC & stop being rude to your elders !!

    2. nigel simmons says:

      BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – ITS NOT BENEFITS AT FAULT IT’S THE SYSTEM
      ID Smith has all the outward signs of being a Psychopath but could the signs be misleading for that interpretation and have a more basic significance .An insider told me yesterday that Smiths latest proposal was to Sanction anyone involved in a Protest against the Tory draconian regime .
      Nick Clegg and his Cohorts actually think Smith and the Tory hierarchy are really losing the plot desperately to hang on to any threads of credibility endorsed by their dwindling number of supporters by desperate measures such as Smiths .
      Whilst Smith a well known Liar and Public Purse Thief is pontificating to us about Idle ne’er do wells his own Department recently spent £471,000 on an office within the Department that was totally left empty for over eight months .
      We all agree that the Benefits System has become out dated and needs Systematic Reform to allow it to run more efficiently but Smiths rants about Scroungers and Fraud has no basis backed by the fact that the Department paid £2.3 Billion in income related benefits to households that do not need them .Reform was needed but after the Debacle ID Smith has made of the process Millions have so far been written off and the reformed system under Smith and the Tories will waste Millions if not Billions on reverting back to the original state is was in to keep it running .UC was being rolled out in October 2013 we are probably looking at another Government to implement it by 2020 if we are lucky .The Tories are Morally and Financially trying to drag us down with them into Bankruptcy on both issues .
      http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

      1. Ian says:

        Is there any chance of creating a society without any monied influence?could normal people just exile the rich and live normal lives or are we forever born into percieved servitude? a life without libcon would be more pleasant.

    1. nick says:

      well it’s about time ATOS said goodbye. Being part of a change of welfare system without any safeguards in place was always going to end in trouble in which many sick and disabled have died

      The government at the end of the day have played down the many deaths of the sick and disabled but in reality like in all of history in that the killing however it may be or however it happens from the government to its people never goes away and will always be a lasting legacy to the government of the day

      The government has always stated that it was to help the sick and disabled back into work but without any safeguards in place to protect those that fell through the net there death was inevitable and as we have all to often witnessed many have died in the most appalling circumstances

      Even without ATOS the deaths will continue and that’s a fact and every sick and disabled person will have to live with that fact in that they have lived but others have died for reasons we the public will never truly know

  129. Stepping Razor says:

    Since atos has wanted to retreat, it is a victory for the disabled. Whoever replaces them will be treated the same way as atos & the dwp by the disabled. The dwp policy has atos running away, even tho we`ve been telling the dwp that for years. The Dwp failure that a new company will take over the medicals – G4S, Serco, A4E and Capita Group – none of these companies have any medical or healthcare within their companies, which is even worse than atossed out of it. The dwp or should I say IDS is the reason it failed. IDS has always been a failure. A failed leader of his party. IDS should be taking atos to court !!

    2015 is nearly here & the governments house is far from in order, a shambles is closer to the truth.

    Working tax credit for the low paid jobs, making the welfare bill bigger, the £65 million a year on atos appeals. Work pays, yes if there is a wage that people can live on without relying on the state tax credit. Even IDS accountant says IDS can`t go on like that because there is a big hole. IDS says to the accountant – just fiddle the numbers.

    WHO IS RUNNING THE FRUAD WITH SO MUCH EVIDANCE ON THE SIDE OF IDS IS RUNNING THE FRUAD.

    Prophecy –

    The commonwealth games in a few months in Scotland will have G4S – Atos IT, running it. What a failed games, with lots of peaceful protests stopping day to day runnings of the games broadcasted on international tv. Failures like taking part in some sort of sport & since the disabled are called failures, we also take part.

    SR

  130. Stepping Razor says:

    Atos you what happens when you f**k with the disabled. IDS you see what happens when you f**k with the disabled. David Cameron you what happens when you f**k with the disabled.

    DISABILTY IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE, IT IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE WITH NO COUNTRY OR POLITICAL BORDERS.

  131. Stepping Razor says:

    SINCE ATOS HAS GONE IT MAKES ALL ATOS MEDICAL INVALID !!

    LET`S START AGAIN WITH ANOTHER £600 MILLION OF TAX PAYERS MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN.

    INVALID – NULL & VOID – NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT`S WRITTEN ON – SCRAPPED – THE ATOS MEDICAL ASSESSEMENTS ARE INVALID.

    Let`s start again !! £££££££ Millions Thousands of lives.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      Atos are trying to get out before 2015. IDS is trying to get to 2015 when atos contract ends. Atos want out now, but IDS wants to get to 2015 because if atos go before 2015 it makes all the DWP/ATOS medicals Invalid.

  132. AL says:

    Reason given on bbc breakfast tv by tory MP, for us all sharing our medical records?
    no info is safe once it’s computerised so we might as well all share for the common good. That is interesting.
    How much are they spending on the computer system for universal credit? and it’s not going to be secure? think of the opportunity for fraud. You wont even have to be working for DWP to get access. And think of the info you can retrieve. Bank details, doctors notes, CV, job search and applications, Sanctions, fraud investigations, so much info all in one place and if you need financial assistance you have to opt in.
    You want to steal a persons identity, it will be the place to go.
    Reckon it will be a nightmare. You know your partners access details, you split up, you want to meddle? Happy days!

        1. Ian says:

          Thanks Al I think now would be the best time to get my held medical records from the dwp before they start deleting and changing things if Atos kick up a big enough fuss.

  133. Stepping Razor says:

    No info is safe once it’s computerised – FOI, NATO, MI6, CREDIT CARD DETAILS, On & On ……..

    What a desperate stupid comment that has no meaning apart from desperation on a sinking denial factory ship. It`s really sinking you can`t deny that. Well go down with the sinking denial ship then, no one can hear you.

    SR

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      The government are calling atos unprofessional. That is funny all throwing their toys out of their prams.

      Unprofessional f**k up on all sides.

      1. Stepping Razor says:

        Who`s to blame – Atos or the DWP?

        IDS is to blame, perhaps IDS would like to blame DC or even better the disabled are to blame.

      2. AL says:

        Shame ATOS didn’t speak up earlier. Their have ruined their reputation and that of their work force. Wonder if the HARD working tax payer will compensate them for that?

        Interesting that ATOS staff can dish out the pain but can’t take it. We have been treated appallingly, lied to treated as liars and without respect or care. Their assessments have actually killed people, a few random, idle threats from scared, poorly people and the HCP’s are upset. (not condoning violence but I can understand how folks are upset at how they are treated) How many deaths have ATOS staff suffered? I think the sick and disabled win.

        They want sympathy. Unbelievable!

  134. Stepping Razor says:

    IDS has to sue Atos for breech of contract. That will not happen because IDS you going to need £300 million to take Atos to court for breech of contract & will drag on for years. So Atos now want compensation for a floored contract & atos want their £580 million back. The blame game begins while more disabled people are dying.

  135. GEOFF REYNOLDS says:

    “THE USE OF WORDS LIKE SHOCK AND AWE WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT”

    OUR NATION IS WITNESSING A SIEGE AGAINST THE POOREST AND WEAKEST, THE LIKES OF WHICH, HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN SINCE THE NAZI’S……………………………..

    DEMOCRACY, THE VOICE AND WISHES OF THE PEOPLE ARE DISAPPEARING FAST AS THE NEW REICH TAKES OVER THE HELM.
    YESTERDAY SAW THE OUTCOME OF THE FIVE DISABLED PERSONS QUEST TO OVERTURN THE DREADED BEDROOM TAX.

    THE JUDGES STATED THAT THE COURTS CANNOT GET INVOLVED IN GOVERNMENT POLICY, HOWEVER CONTENTIOUS.

    I HAVE NEVER HEARD SO MUCH FUCKING CLAPTRAP IN MY LIFE………
    EVERYTHING HAS APPEAL RIGHTS, FOR JUDGES TO REACH THIS DECISION IS JUST BARBARIC, THEY, LIKE MORE AND MORE, ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE NEO NAZI’S IN POWER.

    THE JUDGES SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED AND ALL HISTORICAL LINKS TO THOSE CONTROLLING THEM UNEARTHED!
    THE TWISTED WHIMS OF A SELECT FEW ARE BEING UNLEASHED ON THE MAJORITY.
    POLITICIANS NO LONGER REPRESENT THE PUBLIC, THEY ARE THE PUPPETS OF THE MULTI NATIONAL GREED CORPORATIONS LIKE ATOS……….

    WORK CAPABILITY ASSESSMENTS WILL CARRY ON UNDER A DIFFERENT LABEL, THE OUTCOME WILL BE NO DIFFERENT. IT IS THE SMALL PRINT IN THE CONTRACT WHAT SHOULD BE LAID OPEN FOR ALL TO SEE.

    THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS HAVE DIED ALREADY AND EVERYONE IS CONVENIENTLY LOOKING AWAY.

    “THE DISABLED SHOULD ALL MEET IN TOWN CENTRES AND PUBLICLY BURN THEIR ASSESSMENTS AND REFUSE TO UNDERGO ANY MORE”

    I WILL SAY IT ONCE MORE, ALL THE DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT AT WHATEVER LEVEL, ARE COMPLICIT IN CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, YOU COULD BE NEXT TO FILL A BURIAL PLOT OR AN URN……….

    OUR PROSPECTS ARE DAUNTING BUT IT’S TIME TO HIT BACK OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE.

    YESTERDAY I UNEARTHED SOME GOVERNMENT PAPERS UNDER THE HEADING “fema camps”…………

    PLEASE GOOGLE IT AND TRY AND FIND THE GOVERNMENTS INTENTIONS TO SEND DISABLED TO WORK CAMPS, TO GET THEIR MINDSET RIGHT.

    I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I WAS READING. IT WAS LIKE AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE DREAMT UP BY DISABILITY HATERS.
    THE CAMPS WOULD ACCOMODATE THOUSANDS OF DISABLED AND THE STATE HAD THE RIGHT TO PUNISH YOU BY REMOVAL OF YOUR CHILDREN……………

    “AUSCHWITZ REVISITED”

    THESE BASTARDS ARE ABSOLUTELY CRAZY AND WILL STOP AT NOTHING IN THEIR NEW EUGENICS DECLARATIONS………..

    OUR DWP WROTE TO ME IN A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION RESPONSE, STATING THEY HAD NO LINKS WITH THE DISCREDITED UNUM CORPORATION.

    THIS IS BULLSHIT, UNUM ARE PULLING THE STRINGS OF OUR DERANGED FRONT BENCHERS, AS ARE THE OTHER MAJOR PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE VENTURE CAPITALISTS.

    YOUR JEWEL IN THE CROWN, THE NHS IS BEING DISMANTLED BRICK BY BRICK IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES AS THE STAKES OF CORPORATE GREED BITE WITH EVER GREATER FEROCITY.

    I AM NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORIST BUT THE EXPLOITS OF WHAT IS UNFOLDING MAKE ME WONDER?

    IT;S TIME TO COME OUT OF YOUR PRIVATE TRANCES AND REVOLT BEFORE YOU BECOME THE VICTIMS OF THE STATE.
    Reply

    1. nigel simmons says:

      BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS –THE DILEMMA IDS POSES
      ID Smith has all the outward signs of being a Psychopath but could the signs be misleading for that interpretation and have a more basic significance .An insider told me yesterday that Smiths latest proposal was to Sanction anyone involved in a Protest against the Tory draconian regime .
      Nick Clegg and his Cohorts actually think Smith and the Tory hierarchy are really losing the plot desperately to hang on to any threads of credibility endorsed by their dwindling number of supporters by desperate measures such as Smiths .
      Whilst Smith a well known Liar and Public Purse Thief is pontificating to us about Idle ne’er do wells his own Department recently spent £471,000 on an office within the Department that was totally left empty for over eight months .
      We all agree that the Benefits System has become out dated and needs Systematic Reform to allow it to run more efficiently but Smiths rants about Scroungers and Fraud has no basis backed by the fact that the Department paid £2.3 Billion in income related benefits to households that do not need them .His negative reaction tyo the treatment to patients by Atos is insufferable .
      Reform was needed but after the Debacle ID Smith has made of the process Millions have so far been written off and the reformed system under Smith and the Tories will waste Millions if not Billions on reverting back to the original state is was in to keep it running .UC was being rolled out in October 2013 we are probably looking at another Government to implement it by 2020 if we are lucky .The Tories are Morally and Financially trying to drag us down with them into Bankruptcy on both issues .
      http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

  136. nigel simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS – ITS NOT BENEFITS AT FAULT IT’S THE SYSTEM
    ID Smith has all the outward signs of being a Psychopath but could the signs be misleading for that interpretation and have a more basic significance .An insider told me yesterday that Smiths latest proposal was to Sanction anyone involved in a Protest against the Tory draconian regime .
    Nick Clegg and his Cohorts actually think Smith and the Tory hierarchy are really losing the plot desperately to hang on to any threads of credibility endorsed by their dwindling number of supporters by desperate measures such as Smiths .
    Whilst Smith a well known Liar and Public Purse Thief is pontificating to us about Idle ne’er do wells his own Department recently spent £471,000 on an office within the Department that was totally left empty for over eight months .
    We all agree that the Benefits System has become out dated and needs Systematic Reform to allow it to run more efficiently but Smiths rants about Scroungers and Fraud has no basis backed by the fact that the Department paid £2.3 Billion in income related benefits to households that do not need them .Reform was needed but after the Debacle ID Smith has made of the process Millions have so far been written off and the reformed system under Smith and the Tories will waste Millions if not Billions on reverting back to the original state is was in to keep it running .UC was being rolled out in October 2013 we are probably looking at another Government to implement it by 2020 if we are lucky .The Tories are Morally and Financially trying to drag us down with them into Bankruptcy on both issues .
    http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

  137. Stepping Razor says:

    The uk has no Human Rights for it`s people. That makes the uk a rogue state.

    Nobody wants that made public & I am bored with pussyfooting around the rogue state that the uk is, with no Human Rights for it`s disabled people. Keep on slandering the disabled in rogue state with no human rights policy.

    FACTS ARE FACTS !!

    1. Toddy says:

      February 23, 2014 at 8:44 am

      JUDGE J. D. WALL AND TRIBUNAL PANEL GLOAT AS FRIEND PLEADS FOR DLA TO BE RETURNED IN ORDER TO FEED HIS FAMILY PROPERLY”

      I don’t really say a lot, but this week i had the displeasure of witnessing thr true evil in our society. The one that Cameron and his cronies, deny is happening.
      Shocked, i am not. It is occurring in every town across the UK.

      Watching a grown disabled man, a good friend, pleading to have more than the £32 he is given, raised back to his former DLA that was stolen after a worthless ATOS medical.

      Indeed, i left the tribunal with a feeling of mixed emotions, holding back tears as i saw first hand the evil that men do.
      These people on tribunal benches ar far from being human, they are state picked disability assassins.

      My friend explained that he and his partner and son had been reduced to eating cream crackers and cups of soup to survive, going on to tell in detail how they had not been able to light the gas fire for the last four years.
      If the government says that a person needs £71 a week to live on, why force a disabled man and his family to live on less?

      People like Judge J D Wall should be immediately struck off, compassion for another human being is not in their vocabulary!

      I will never forget that awful day as long as i live. It will be firmly etched into my memory.

      The DWP used to pick on me all the time until i mentioned that i had suicidal thoughts. Some things have changed slightly, some treat me like a human being, but others, mainly women, are ever so cruel.
      The rising cost of diesel fuel and forced redundancy caused me to be unemployed.

      Like my friend, we are neither shirkers or whatever else the government run media throw at us, we are trapped by unfortunate events in time.

      Disability Denial is alive and kicking, i have seen it with my own eyes.
      As the tribunal drew to a close, the tribunal judge asked me if i had anything to say.

      I said nothing, tears in my eyes.

      “Why are they persecuting those who are least likely to respond?”

      Or is that government policy, to bully those who already carry the heaviest burden, the disabled?

  138. disabled-dave says:

    Now the bastards are trying to push through a law so that they can force the closure of pure NHS hospitals so the business of treating patients would be forced to go to the private finance hospitals that are currently losing money. From 38degrees:

    “Jeremy Hunt is trying to sneak through a law which will give him the power to quickly close any local hospital without listening to local people. No hospital is safe.

    He’s changing the rules after losing twice in court trying to close Lewisham Hospital against the wishes of local people, doctors and nurses. The sweeping new law – the ‘hospital closure clause’ of the Care Bill – will give the government the power to shut down any hospital, in as little as 40 days, regardless of how well the hospital is performing.

    Jeremy Hunt is hell-bent on pushing this through. And time’s not on our side. It could be as little as one week before MPs vote this sinister threat into a reality.

    Our NHS is precious. And it’s important that we know hospitals, accident and emergency and maternity services are there for us in moments of crisis and joy. It’s terrifying to imagine the government having the power to close any hospital without hearing the wishes of the local community.

    It’s going to be tough to stop Jeremy Hunt. But we’ve done it before – twice in Lewisham alone. And if enough of us are keen, there are exciting possibilities for next steps. And new tactics we could try which would take even Jeremy Hunt by surprise!

    The 38 Degrees staff team sit down on Monday morning to plan out the week ahead and decide on how we split up staff resources. The most important factor when making those decisions is what 38 Degrees members think.”

    Join 38degrees, it’s free, and help fight this privatisation of the NHS.

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      40,000 deaths so far. I think they are going for the 100,000 deaths & they will get a £3 million bonus.

    2. disabled-dave says:

      So how long before unemployment benefits also become a loan that has to be repaid?

      I’m thinking that IDS really stands for Infernal Devil Satan.

      1. AL says:

        Ugh don’t give him ideas, DD. Though maybe if it was a loan, they maybe couldn’t keep sanctioning the way they do. How can people live and keep job seeking under such uncertainty and stress? These sanctions are a disgrace with most of them being unfairly applied.

        Don’t forget Backbench Business Today Thursday 27 Feb at 11am ish.
        (i) Effects of welfare reform on sick and disabled people (ii) Parliamentary Representation. Pray for a positive outcome. Meditate for compassion.

  139. AL says:

    A good debate in parliament. Some excellent speeches. Dennis Skinner of course, Ian Lavery, Caroline Lucas and many others. Mike Penning was sympathetic not inflamatory which helped and in the end they all said aye! A result. What happens next?

    Think everyone has worked hard for this and should be proud. Those who campained, those who signed, those who went down to London to show support and those who meditated, prayed, lit candles or just sat fingers crossed at home cheering the MP’s on willing them to speak well.

    They heard some of the stories, they heard the issues. We are not silent. We will not be silent.

  140. Stepping Razor says:

    Watched the whole 3 hours !!

    58 disabled people have found jobs since the start of the WCA. Read the minutes.

    Shadow Labour Minister said they will not scrap the WCA.

    The I`s have it in the chamber.

    What is shows is Atos run the Conservative British Government, they can not do anything without Atos`s permission.

    Denial Factories = The DWP refuse to be held to account for the WCA, yet it is the DWP`s responsibility.

    What the conservatives are failing to understand is it is the DWP`s responsibility for the Atos contract. It is the DWP that is at fault, not Atos. The DWP can not blame their service provider that they hired, because it is the DWP`s responsibility. The buck falls with the DWP not Atos or Capita.

    1. AL says:

      Agreed.

      ATOS will be collecting and looking after your medical info. Didn’t expect to hear that in the debate. Are we all going to sign up and let them do what they like with it? It’s the first I heard that the collection is being farmed out to a private company who no doubt will make loads of money and wont care about looking after our data, just making a profit from it.

      Can’t think wht the Govt can say to make me think that handing over my data to ATOS is a good idea. Mine is opted out and staying that way.

      1. disabled-dave says:

        I knew that the Government wanted to centralise everybody’s medical records and sell anonymised details, but if you are right they have given the job to Atos.

        We are all in unless we specifically opt out. It seemed to my benefit so that if I was in an accident the hospital would have immediate access to what medications I’m on and what health problems I have, but no way am I going to agree to Atos looking after my info: too much danger of them altering people’s records to remove details of their disabilities so their WCA assessments look right.

        I’m contacting my surgery tomorrow to tell them I want to be opted out.

        1. AL says:

          I was told at my surgery that there are three levels of information sharing. One; in surgery. Two; in NHS. Three out of NHS ready for selling for research etc. It is the info that leaves the health service that is the problem I think. That’s the bit they can sell. You need to ask at your surgery and check thoroughly. Just heard the news and now I’m confused again. They are just so muddled about what they are doing it doesn’t give confidence.

          1. AL says:

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10642740/NHS-admits-new-medical-records-database-could-pose-privacy-risk.html

            NHS admits new medical records database could pose privacy risk

            …The risk assessment emerged after NHS statistics, revealed over the weekend, showed that health services were losing or breaching the safety of 2,000 patient records every day. More than 2 million serious data breaches by the NHS have been logged since the start of 2011, the figures reveal, with records dumped in landfill sites, left in shops and even sold on eBay…

  141. Stepping Razor says:

    The NHS Care Data will be scrapped. The WCA will be scrapped. Each day more damning thing will be made public. The UN report on the treatment of disabled people by DWP & Ian Dopey Shit will be published in March 2014.

  142. Stepping Razor says:

    In Dire Straits.
    In Deep Shit.
    In Difficult Shit.
    In Denial Service.
    Iain Dopey Shit.
    Indeed Does Shame.
    Into Done Shares.
    Insane Denial State.

  143. AL says:

    ‘OH Assist’ is a trading name of Atos IT Services UK Limited. Look out for ‘Performe Health too’. Working together understand they are both newer projects for ATOS. Occupational Health. These names are as yet untainted. Providing plenty of openings for redundent HCP’s who dislike death threats perhaps?

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      They are popping up all the time – 2 new ones since yesterday.

      Assist OH – OH Portal, that is there base to set up more site with OK in it.

      Set up a company & website in 3 hours.

      IT IS ALL BOGUS ATOS SITES – OH.

      BOGUS MEANING FRAUD.

  144. Stepping Razor says:

    Are Atos about to Bail Out of All Occupational Health?
    Tuesday, 25 February 2014 wheresthebenefit

    In one of those sick ironies of the Atos WCA regime, there were several stories of Atos’s corporate Occupational Health service finding people unfit for work, only to have their WCA arm find exactly the same person, with exactly the same symptoms, fit for work

    A new blog from Dr Greg Wood, the Atos whistleblower, points out that the Atos corporate OH service has quietly migrated itself off the Atos Healthcare website and now lives under an assumed identity as OH Assist with the only mention of Atos on the front page being a tiny acknowledgement that the website is by ‘Atos IT Services UK Limited 2014’, and in fact that sanitising of any reference to Atos seems to be pretty much site wide.

    If you go to the Atos Healthcare website, it now states only that “Atos Healthcare conducts assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.” All mention of corporate OH has disappeared. A quick whois check on the OH Assist domain name suggests it was registered on 5th December, so this has been in process for several months, though it is difficult to tell when the website changes went live.

    There are several possibilities here:
    As Dr Wood suggests, that the Atos Healthcare brand is now so toxic that they can only preserve their corporate OH service by separating it from their own corporate ID and branding.

    A spin off from this would link it to the story broken by John Pring and Disability News Service a couple of weeks ago, Doctor recruitment crisis leaves Atos begging for help, that Atos are finding it impossible to recruit doctors to Atos Healthcare, in which case hiding the corporate OH service’s toxic parent identity may be the only way it can now recruit staff,

    But there is a third, even more startling, though long overdue possibility, the separation of the corporate OH service onto a different website and the complete firewalling of it away from Atos branding, may be clear indicators that it is being prepared for sale, and that, when combined with Atos’s ‘Oh, woe is poor little bullied me’ whinging in the Telegraph last Friday, strongly implies that Atos may be about to bail out of all involvement with Occupational Health, whether corporate or government led.

    It is becoming very apparent that the campaign has worked, that the Atos corporate brand is now so toxic that Atos themselves are becoming unable to conduct work only marginally related to the WCA and may be in the process of selling up and doing a fly-by-night flit in the hope of saving what they can. Of course the tragedy is that the campaign was ever necessary, WCA was always flawed, but Atos had the opportunity to become a force for good in trying to make it work. Sadly they aligned themselves with DWP and against disabled people and sealed their own fate.

    Of course the fight against DWP goes on until WCA is replaced with an assessment process that is fit for purpose and which meets the needs of disabled people. So, IDS next?

    http://wheresthebenefit.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/are-atos-about-to-bail-out-of-all.html

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      Domain name:
      ohportal.co.uk

      Registrant:
      ATOS ORIGIN UK LIMITED

      Trading as:
      Atos Origin UK Limited

      Registrant type:
      UK Limited Company, (Company number: 2479330)

      Registrant’s address:
      4 Triton Square
      Regents Place
      London
      NW1 3HG
      United Kingdom

      Registrar:
      Melbourne IT t/a Internet Names Worldwide [Tag = MELBOURNE-IT]
      URL: http://www.melbourneit.com.au/contacts

      Relevant dates:
      Registered on: 15-Jun-2006
      Expiry date: 15-Jun-2014
      Last updated: 17-Apr-2013

      Registration status:
      Registered until expiry date.

      Name servers:
      ns1.origin-services.com
      ns2.origin-services.com
      ns3.origin-services.com

      1. Stepping Razor says:

        About the OH Portal
        The OH Portal, also known as Cosmas Vista is an Internet based web browser application that interfaces with OH Assist’s core IT systems. It enables multiple users to access our occupational health services using their own PC terminals.
        The OH Portal increases speed, efficiency and accessibility to our services and provide a secure environment to send, receive and view information.
        This document details the step-by-step processes enabling users to facilitate making and managing occupational health referrals.
        Please note that screen shots and data entered into fields within this document are for illustrative purposes only. While they are up to date at time of writing, changes to the Portal may render them out of date. Separate communications will precede changes to ensure all users are aware of changes made and every endeavour will be made to keep this document up to date.

        To search for a referral or employee, enter details into the text box; select the desired criteria from the drop down menu (Surname, Forename, Date of Birth, Referral ID or Customer Identifier) then click ‘Go’.
        For advanced search options, select advanced just above the search criteria box. Searches can then be performed by the same criteria as above, but also by Referring Manager (enter either surname, email address or customer identifier), by customer unit or referral state (open or closed).
        Note: Customer Identifier is a unique identifier used to identify people within your organisation. If your organisation has specified a term to use for this, that will be displayed. If your organisation has not specified a term to be used, the label will be Customer ID

        To view the employee’s details click on Client.
        To see the referrals for a particular employee please click on Referral(s) followed by the referral number if there is more than one referral.
        To create a referral for some one who has been referred before, select ‘Refer [employee name]’ next to their name.
        To create a new referral for an employee who has not been referred using the portal before, click on ‘My client does not exist. I need to create a new referral for a new client’.

        Making Referrals
        with the OH Assist portal

        Referral questions
        OH Assist has designed a series of questions to capture specific information relating to the employee, their specific health situation, absence history and job role directly from the referring manager.
        The data will always be captured on a single page within the browser. The majority of the questions can be answered by selecting from dropdown lists, by selecting radio button or checkbox options.
        OH Assist’s team of occupational health practitioners can then supply tailored advice, providing support for the manager in managing sick absence or a particular work or health situation. Certain questions are mandatory to ensure that relevant information is captured.
        The questions which will be addressed will vary depending on the type of referral you are submitting. As part of the occupational health consultation and assessment, the practitioner will address the following issues as a matter of course:

        • Advice on the health condition(s) and prognosis
        • Current work capability
        • An estimate of return to work date and a return to work plan, if necessary
        • If a return to full duties is unlikely, advice on modifications to allow continued employment and the duration of such modifications
        • An opinion on disability according to current legislation

        Background and history
        In order to help our practitioners asses your employee, information on their background and history can be recorded. If there are any workplace matters you wish to record click yes and a additional text box will appear. Otherwise you must indicate ‘No’ or ‘Don’t Know’ relevant to the situation.
        There is also a list of example prompts to guide you if you are unsure. For example, you should use this section to notify us of any workplace accidents or incidents relevant to the period of absence. In addition, this section can be used to provide an outline of potential modified work which may be available, or any limitations regarding job modifications.
        There is also a list of common work duties to choose from, if the required duty is not listed, click ‘Other’ and then type the duty in the text box that becomes available.

        Legal information
        OH Assist™ is a trading name of Atos IT Services UK Limited. OH Assist™ – a trademark of the Atos Group. © Atos S.E. 2014. All rights reserved.
        Registered Number 01245534 – England and Wales. Registered Office: 4 Triton Square, Regents Place, London, NW1 3HG – VAT NO. GB 232327983

          1. Stepping Razor says:

            Cosmas Vista
            User Guide [Also run by ATOS]

            The copyright in this work is vested in Atos Healthcare and the information contained herein is confidential. This work (either in whole or in part) must not
            be modified, disclosed or disseminated to others or used for purposes other than for which it is supplied without the prior written consent of Atos
            Healthcare. If this work or any part hereof is furnished to a party under a contract between that party and Atos Healthcare use of this work by that party
            shall be governed by the express contractual terms between Atos Healthcare and that party.

            — And so the bullshit goes on fr 62 pages in a PDF

  145. Stepping Razor says:

    OH Portal, also known as Cosmas Vista also known as ATOS also known as OH Assist.

    DWP & IDS you got to be faster than that to fool the disabled

    1. disabled-dave says:

      If you read that news story they were able to use the supposedly anonymous data along with credit rating data to identify every single person by name.

      I’m trying to find out if this sale was a criminal offence under the Data Protection Act because keepers of personal data have to inform you of what the data will be used for before you give permission for them to have your data, and you can opt out of uses of the data other than for the specific needs of the “transaction”, and when I was in hospital I certainly was NOT told that the information I gave might be sold to an insurance company. Had I been told that I most certainly would not have agreed.

  146. Stepping Razor says:

    Prepare yourself for new data protection rules – 13th Feb 2014

    Changes to data protection legislation could have a weighty impact on British businesses. Here are the latest developments from Brussels.

    The European Parliament has voted − by an overwhelming majority − to significantly overhaul current EU data protection laws.

    A single data protection law looks set to replace the existing patchwork of national laws. The new law will impact almost every business operating within the EU and, consequently, many businesses outside the EU.

    The UK is recognised as having some of the weakest and abused data protection laws in Europe, but things are about to change.

    The new European Data Protection Regulation is calling for one law across the continent. The changes could have a weighty impact upon corporate UK and will be backed by hefty fines.

    The Data Protection Act 1998 came into being in March 2000 with most requirements coming into play by October 2001 through EU Directive 95/46/EC. The Act required bodies, which record and use personal information to register with the Information Commissioner.

    With the rapid growth of technology, stored information, and the internet explosion, the Act set out to:

    •Protect the rights of and privacy of individuals

    •Ensure information held about them was not processed without their knowledge

    •Where possible with the individual’s permission

    •Related to living individuals

    •Defined a category of sensitive personal data

    The Act covered data held in electronic formats, but also included data held in manual filing systems. Effectively this meant that any stored information relating to an identifiable living person, was covered by the Data Protection Act. Unstructured manual data was exempt from various aspects of the Act.

    To any individual or organisation holding data, this meant they were responsible for any decisions with regard to its processing, and that any processing should be carried out according to the eight data protection principles:

    1.Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully

    2.Personal data shall be obtained only for a specific and lawful purpose, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or purposes

    3.Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed

    4.Personal data shall be accurate, and, where necessary, kept up to date

    5.Personal data processed for any purpose shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose

    6.Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under the Data Protection Act

    7.Appropriate technical and organisational measure shall be taken to prevent the unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and the accidental loss, destruction or damage to personal data

    Realbusiness:-
    http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/25458-prepare-yourself-for-new-data-protection-rules

    1. Stepping Razor says:

      That is why NHS Data Care is being rushed through before the new laws & rules are introduced.

      Rushed = mistakes.

  147. Humanity2012 says:

    Down with the Nazi Persecution of the Poor and Vulnerable
    and Shame upon the Gullible and Craven who Believe Regime
    Propaganda about the Poor and Vulnerable being ” Scroungers ”
    but Yet Not Millionaire Politicians

    1. nigel simmons says:

      BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS –FORGET ABOUT BENEFIT CLAIMANTS-HOW HAVE THE TORIES TREATED THE REST OF US
      Firstly lets dispel Labour and UKIP’s pretence if they were in power they would save the NHS .Notice your spam folders more and more Private Health Insurance’s advertising long waiting lists and for a small sum ect – Privatisation is already and waiting to take over .
      What job satisfaction or security have we got – None ,zero hour contracts ,Agency work whereby it is hit and miss whether you work one day or the next .
      Workfare were Jobseekers are being forced to work for free to earn Corporations Larger Profits .
      Education ,how long have the Tories been in power and only today made the statement we will implement the teaching of maths and English in schools .
      Housing , Shapps said after selling off G3 for 22.5 Billion it was earmarked for Housing .Yesterday he lied by saying anyone votes Tory will get a Referendum ,what happened to the last promise .
      The Liverpool Care Pathway ,how to die in dignity – starved of food but still administered ‘medication’ .
      Welfare Reform – in chaos and no solution in sight . Jobs Market – 800,000 and again 700,000 jobs only advertised in the EU and not here .
      Referendum on the EU – no chance .
      So we can forget about Poverty ,Atos Deaths ,Food Banks ,Benefit Sanctions ,Workfare ,Tuition Fees ,Bedroom Tax ,no Fuel Price Control ,Lies & Deceit and more Cuts to come it still does not paint a pretty picture of the Government does it .
      http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

  148. Humanity2012 says:

    Welfare Restoration Need’s to take Place with Constitutionally
    Protection of Welfare Benefits and their Levels For the Basic
    Right to Welfare Benefits to Ensure a Standard of Living that
    is Not Millionaire but Not Starving to Death Either to End
    Degrading Assessments to Cut Down Bureaucracy and a
    Crackdown on Media Victimisation of the Poor and Vulnerable

    A Caring Society Not a Hellhole of Slave Labour Misery
    No Forced Unpaid Slave Labour No Degrading Sanctions

    A Caring State

  149. nigel simmons says:

    BROKEN BRITISH POLITICS –EU GIVEN PRIORITY OVER OUR JOBS
    Benefit Sanctions are part of the DWP’s Claimant Control strategy whereby Claimants are Sanctioned for failing to do a number of things that do not meet the Jobcentre criteria for receiving Benefits .
    The Tory mantra “get a job you scrounger” is so facial it is unbelievable .The Tories not value for money except for themselves philosophy is costing us Taxpayers millions of pounds wasted on Bogus Agencies .There is widespread repartition of job vacancies on the Governments Flagship Universal Job match obviously the website is flying at half mast as deceitful liar ID Smith is in charge .

    An outside investigation found that 30% of the jobs advertised on Universal Jobmatch were fake. The input from Monster Employment agency falls spectacularly short of what we the Taxpayer are spending our money on ,they advertise and send out emails notifying claimants of vacancies using the repeated statement “Production Operatives” which leads you to the same vacancy every time .
    The unrecoverable money wasted on the first IT programme cost us £146 million – what is it going to cost this time .

    Within the last year 1500,000 jobs have only been Advertised within the EU and not here .Shambles Government shambles systems .A Benefit Claimant is therefore using an Official Website that is as unreal as Liar Smith .Claimants are blatantly Sanctioned for not applying for bogus jobs ,repeated same vacancies and jobs that are in existence but not on the site .The EU sponsors the Jobcentre Logo from the Social Fund at the same time as denying jobs in Britain for the British .
    ‘IDS faces a probe’ say many newspapers – what in his head .
    http://brokenbritishpolitics.simplesite.com

  150. nigel simmons says:

    ‘Deceit’ as Cameron ditches pledge to give voters power to sack MPs
    The coalition agreement of 2010 included a promise of early legislation to introduce a “power of recall” allowing voters to force their MP to face a by-election by raising a petition of 10% of constituents, if the MP had been sentenced to prison or judged guilty of “serious wrongdoing” by the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee .
    https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/justice

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