All repeat WCA medicals to be stopped

Indie_Kid

I have to admit I've never understood the reason for repeate assessments. Many of us on ESA have long term incurable disabilities. We're either only going to get worse or stay the same.

sja75

Just read in the B&W newsletter that they are aware of plans for a two year reprieve before claimants are being looked at again. Copied and pasted for those who didn't receive their email:

On Monday we broke the news that, due to a growing backlog at Atos, current employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants will be left on the benefit, without further medical checks, until another company can be found to do repeat work capability assessments (WCAs). Since then the story has been picked up by the press, including the Independent, the Mirror and the Daily Record. The issue was also raised by Stephen Timms, shadow employment minister in a commons debate yesterday (column 173). He appears not to have received a response, however.

So we're now we’re asking a question of the minister for disabled people, Mike Penning: did you deliberately mislead the Commons on 24 February when you failed to tell them about the decision to end repeat assessments, which had been made over a month earlier? Debbie Abrahams MP, who sits on the Work and Pensions Committee has agreed to pursue the matter. In the meantime, we have now received information from a credible, but unverified source, that all those who are affected by the issue - those who were due to be referred to Atos on or after 20 January, will get a two year reprieve before they are looked at again.


ESA NEWS First the DWP leaked documents suggesting it was planning to ditch Atos as the provider of WCAs. Then Atos announced that it had actually been trying to negotiate an early exit from the WCA contract, due to end in 2015, for months anyway. Now comes the news that Atos is no longer being allowed to do repeat ESA assessments. It's beginning to look like the acrimonious end of a long-term relationship. But as Atos and the DWP turn on each other, claimants are being dragged into the row, accused of hundreds of episodes of abuse and assaults against Atos staff in the course of a single year. It's a claim that we've never heard before and about which we're highly sceptical. It's also one that Atos are so far refusing to answer any of our questions about. But then they may be too busy to talk to us whilst trying to set up two new companies, OH Assist and Performe Health, in an attempt to salvage something from what appears to be the wreck of their healthcare reputation and leave the name of Atos far behind them.

Simon7685

I think this is a respite for the thousands upon thousands of people waiting for their reassessment and I hope it stops a lot of worry for a while at least.

Can I just point out though, regarding people continuously blaming this Government for everything. It was actually the previous Labour Govt that brought the WCA in to being and it was them that appointed ATOS, so it is not entirely fair to blame the current lot for everything.

Don't get me wrong, the current Govt are responsible for a lot of things, especially where the disabled and long term sick are concerned but the last Labour Govt has a lot to answer for too.

Also any change in Govt in 2015 is not going to make any difference to things that are already in place. If Labour get in they are not going to change things to suddenly make everyone happy. It will just carry on from where it is, possibly with some concessions but I doubt it. They will not be able to afford to change things and when they see how much they are saving in benefit savings, they are not going to go back.

They are all the same at the end of it, they will promise the world to win our votes but when it comes to carrying out the promises, the goalposts are always moved.

Before anyone has a go at me, I do not agree with the WCA in its present form, it is too harsh by a long way. Neither do I agree with what the current Govt have done to the disabled and long term sick but a change of Govt will not bring about the change that many a hoping it will.

osdset

Indie_Kid wrote: »

I have to admit I've never understood the reason for repeate assessments. Many of us on ESA have long term incurable disabilities. We're either only going to get worse or stay the same.

It is (was?) a nice little repeat earner for ATOS, plus some claimants will inevitably be worn down by it all and simply give up attending.

Morglin

My view is that whatever government get in next time, and it is unlikely (judging by the polls) to be this lot, will have to change something.

This two year 'reprieve' will clash wonderfully to when they now think they can start the mass migration from DLA to PIP. :eek:

It also clashes with the projected increase in UC claims, which I know is nothing to do with assessors, but all of them are to do with the DWP, and their procedures.

Something will have to give here, to avoid another chaotic backlog of claims, awards, rejections and appeals.

ATOS are getting all the blame here, but until they change the system, nothing will change.

Duncan Smith needs to stop blaming everyone else, man up and resign.:mad:

Lin :wall:

Edit, to include the whole article from B&W:


"Repeat ESA medicals deferred for two years

Benefits and Work has received information from a DWP insider claiming that people who are due to have their employment and support allowance (ESA) award reassessed in the coming months will now have that assessment deferred for a full two years.
On Monday we broke the news that current employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants will be left on the benefit, without further medical checks, until another company can be found to carry out repeat work capability assessments (WCAs). The DWP stopped referring claimants to Atos for repeat medicals with effect from 20 January 2013.
The change does not apply to IB to ESA transfers or to people who report a change of circumstances, such as a worsening of their condition. It will also not apply to anyone who has already been referred to Atos or to those who have made a new claim for ESA, as those assessments will still take place.
Benefits and Work has now received further information from a mole within the DWP on how deferment works. Whilst we cannot verify the identity of the individual, they clearly had access to the DWP memo which Benefits and Work obtained, as they were aware of details which we did not publish.
One unpublished section of the memo states that:
“Scans will be run from 18 January to identify and defer Employment and Support Allowance repeat referrals. The impact of this should be seen from 20 January.
“The scans will be managed centrally and will result in a reduction in the number of Work Available Reports.”
The DWP mole informs us that the scan has caused reassessments due in late January through February to be moved on by two years. The same scan is due to be run each month throughout the year. Each time, all those due to be reassessed will be given a two year deferral. So someone due to be sent back to Atos on 1 February 2014, for example, will not now be re-examined until 1 February 2016.
The revelation is clear evidence of just how long the DWP really expects it to take to clear the massive backlog of WCAs built up under Atos.
It is also evidence of the extreme heartlessness of the DWP. The memo in question makes it clear that claimants should not be told about the deferral of their reassessment. Instead, the intention is to leave people for years dreading that brown envelope dropping through their letterbox and constantly wondering why it hasn't arrived yet."

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/2648-repeat-esa-medicals-deferred-for-two-years

Xign

Seriously repeat assessments need to be looked at. Maybe there needs to be another Group in ESA introduced, for example we'd have:

WRAG
Support Group
Long Term Support Group.

Anyone in long term support group can have a prognosis of up to ten years. Much like the PIP assessments.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/atos-quietly-dropped-from-carrying-out-repeat-reassessments-by-dwp-internal-memo-shows-9151893.html


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/atos-crisis-fit-to-work-checks-shelved-3180876


http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/hated-atos-fit-for-work-tests-axed-3180996

PHILANTHROPIST

Simon7685 wrote: »

I think this is a respite for the thousands upon thousands of people waiting for their reassessment and I hope it stops a lot of worry for a while at least.

Can I just point out though, regarding people continuously blaming this Government for everything. It was actually the previous Labour Govt that brought the WCA in to being and it was them that appointed ATOS, so it is not entirely fair to blame the current lot for everything.

Don't get me wrong, the current Govt are responsible for a lot of things, especially where the disabled and long term sick are concerned but the last Labour Govt has a lot to answer for too.

Also any change in Govt in 2015 is not going to make any difference to things that are already in place. If Labour get in they are not going to change things to suddenly make everyone happy. It will just carry on from where it is, possibly with some concessions but I doubt it. They will not be able to afford to change things and when they see how much they are saving in benefit savings, they are not going to go back.

They are all the same at the end of it, they will promise the world to win our votes but when it comes to carrying out the promises, the goalposts are always moved.

Before anyone has a go at me, I do not agree with the WCA in its present form, it is too harsh by a long way. Neither do I agree with what the current Govt have done to the disabled and long term sick but a change of Govt will not bring about the change that many a hoping it will.

Well said. It is the process not the gov't in power that is at fault. IDS may be demonised, but I fear that he is not the source of the problem. The respite is nonetheless welcome news for those awaiting a re-assessment.

Mr_F_Dorsetty

osdset wrote: »

It is (was?) a nice little repeat earner for ATOS, plus some claimants will inevitably be worn down by it all and simply give up attending.

A rat doesn't decide where a ship puts into port and ATOS did not decide the criteria for assessments.

I get very tired of people making comments such as yours because they are wholly untrue, without any foundation in reality and they just create confusion.

The DWP does seem unable to grasp that re-assessing people with an illness/disability condition which will never change in a positive manner is a waste of money in itself.

But that is nothing to do with ATOS and ultimately I don't care if the new contract provider is called "The Really Nice Fluffy Bunny Health checkers" because they will still only work to the criteria that the DWP insist on. Oddly enough 'just following orders' wasn't an allowable defence at Nuremberg, pity the UK governments of all colours have forgotten that edict.

The problem has never been ATOS, the problem is the DWP.

tomtontom

Indie_Kid wrote: »

I have to admit I've never understood the reason for repeate assessments. Many of us on ESA have long term incurable disabilities. We're either only going to get worse or stay the same.

With advances in medicine there is no such thing as an incurable disease in the longer term. No one should be written off for life because of a diagnosis.