By LABOUR’S Tom Greatrex says the Tory government should be demanding money back from Atos because of the mess they have made of the work assessment tests.
FIT-TO-WORK testers Atos are making record profits while running shambolic medical assessments of disabled people on benefits.
Yesterday, Labour’s Tom Greatrex said the Coalition should be claiming money back from the French IT firm because of the mess they have made of the dreaded work capability tests.
The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West spoke out after the company announced a 36 per cent increase in profits for 2012.
Atos boasted a net global income increase of 23 per cent to £193million and record commercial activity with £8.6billion of orders.
In their annual report, the company bragged that one of their
“main wins above 100million euros in 2012”
was a contract with the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions.
The DWP hired Atos to carry out work capability tests on disabled people.
The firm won contracts worth more than £400million last August to assess whether claimants were eligible for incapacity benefit. Atos are receiving £238million for work in Scotland and the north of England, according to the DWP.
Claimants who are judged fit can have their benefits cut if they don’t return to work.
But Atos’s assessments have been widely discredited and almost 40 per cent of claimants have had decisions overturned on appeal.
The cost of running the appeals system is borne by the Government, not Atos.
Greatrex said:
“These figures are a slap in the face to sick and disabled people across Britain.
“It is unfair that, as successful appeals increase, the company’s profits go through the roof.
“There is no excuse for Tory ministers failing to get a grip and demanding money back from Atos for getting it so badly wrong.”
Up to 50,000 disabled Scots are being forced back to work by DWP benefits bullies.
Figures show that 70 per cent of people assessed by Atos are passed as being fit to work – and the remaining 30 per cent face repeat tests in less than a year.
The Government aim to cut spending on the benefit by 20 per cent in three years.
An Atos spokesman said the DWP contract was valued at £400million but that did not reflect profits.
The official added: “We have worked with the DWP for over a decade and our contract with them represents less than two per cent of our revenue.”
10 Responses
ITS NOT ATOS WHO EARNED THE MONEY, ITS THE DWP WHO STOLE IT……
How to solve the unemployment problem and get the ability tests done properly by sensible people for less than Atos is getting paid:
Employ the unemployed to look at the disabled in their area to decide if they are fit to work. I’m sure even the most unemployable of able-bodied people would get the right result a lot more often than Atos does.
atossers with greed but then killing more daily isnt about time our mp,s openned their eyes to this abuse by cams and co of killing disabled and sick people by denieing them their benefits jeff3
it looks to me that the scotts are leading the protest against ids, wheres the english, cowering waiting for the welsh then the irish then we english will protest maybe eh
Killing people for money used to be illegal!
State sponsored suicides of the sick and dissbled are crimes that Iain Duncan Smith and Cameron should be convicted of by an international court of human right. We the people should demand this and make sure that they cannot escape payback for their evil. we all.must keep the pressure on them using whatever means we can. Embarrass them.by contscting foreign newspapers and embassies. Make their evil be known worldwide in order to halt the horror.
The English have been disunited by the plantation of many different groups and instead of promoting integration these groups have been encouraged to have their own communities . the British excel with this particular tactic divide and rule.
http://www.theafricancourier.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=481:how-the-british-planted-the-seed-of-disunity-in-nigeria&catid=122:africa–50&Itemid=819
Forget ATOS. They are just a tool of the state to deflect attention from the real perpetrators, the DWP and associated government staff.
They have been chosen very carefully to take the flack from the ire of the electorate.
Being french makes them virtually untouchable and accessible.
No doubt about it, ATOS does kill, and its taking more lives as we speak, but their paymasters are the culprits.
Stress and Suicide caused by ill thought out, relentless attacks on the poorest and most vulnerable. A trophy to the maggots in whitehall and the mandarins of elitism.
You are being sold down the river by a group of so called medical experts at the DWP. Heading the team is BILL GUNNYEON.
His medical team are using the disabled in an exercise to rid you of your benefits, allowing insurance multinationals like UNUM , ATOSs holding company, to peddle health insurance in the uk.
Its all part of a bigger picture. Privatisation of the NHS will makeway for the likes of UNUM to operate on our shores. The links between members of the DWP and the Insurance industry are at your disposal. Investigate further, you will be amazed……….
This shower of shit are sacrificing lives…………
DWP can and do overturn ATOS decisions. My MP brought my case to them and not only did they reverse ATOS’s decision they also stated I did not have to have a Medical for 3 years.
If you want to hit ATOS in the pocket then everyone needs to take up thier legal right to have the Assesment audibly recorded. ATOS cann ot refuse and as they only have 2 sets of equipment in my area it means not only would they have to fork out large sums of money to get enough sets, they would have to pay out to employ and train people to use them. Assements would cometo a virtual stand still until they did this which means large numbers would not be done in the agreed timescaale leaving them open to financial penalties.
Kevin; I assume you are the one who managed to get the Govt debate into existance Oct 2013 ref CRPS? I have been crippled by this condition since Nov 2012 and spent a year in and out of hospital every week, had surgery this year and still have CRPS (just no longer have so many crushed nerves) but denied any benefits at all to live off by the actions of Attos.
Not a single charity will give assistance if you are disabled BUT not in receipt of any income or benefit. I am still unable to afford to live let alone pay for any of the physio, support or rehab required for CRPS because CRPS does not ‘conform’ to the DWP and Attos directive of what a disability is!
To live I have virtually sold everything I can on ebay, my home is now for sale because in this country my disability and the crippling effect of it do not conform to the DWP and Attos opinion on what is debilatating; and it seems the decisions of unqualified ‘healthcare’ advisors they use overiders the medical expertise of the consultant that has for over a year worked with me.
So as another ESA Tribunal approaches at which once again a GP and so called Healthcare person will sit and with no interest in finding out about CRPS let alone taking any notice of the reports of me consultant; please can you tell me HOW, as a CRPS patient, I am supposed to fight my case when the system is set hell bent against the reality of this condition. My MP is of no use what so ever.
The only solution I see is to get the Tribunal members, smash one of their hands with a hammer, hold a blow torch on their arm and tell them to perform the stupid tests they have as the tick box to decide if a person is crippled by the condition of CRPs. According to Attos: you can live with pain so go get a full time job …. well set fire 24/7 to the Attos decision makers arm and tell them to do a job while their arm burns.