Seven medals but now they want my benefits.

[carernotasaint]

blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/08/28/seven-medals-but-now-the-tories-want-my-benefits-british-paralympic-gold-medalist-tara-flood-speaks-out/

ATOS has not killed anyone. No one has died through lack of healthcare or lack of a benefit, They have died whilst going about their days waiting for the administrative process to complete. It's complete nonsense too claim ATOS has killed anyone when whether you like it or not these deaths would have occurred anyway. It is just ad hominem nonsense to suggest otherwise.

so how about the people who have had a condition made worse to the point of death by stress?
or the ones who have ended up with no income of anytype who cant eat/prepare food/dress themselves basicly take care of themselves at all? its all fine and dandy having a food box delivered by the food bank but if you cant lift the food or feed yourself or even move to open the door your a bit fucked really arnt you?

no one had died of lack of healthcare
what a pile of shit

FACT the only case of a heart attack was a gentleman who died before the day before his ATOS assessment when he had been made a recipient of ESA after his previous assessment.

ATOS may not have directly killed anyone but, judging by the high rate of successful appeals, they've cocked up a lot of assesments. Or more precisely, the testing method they use is not fit for purpose.

Hmm well the effect of stress is always hard to quantify but I don't think it takes much imagination to realise that the sort of situation couthy finds herself in is going to be stressful. And if 70% of appeals heard with representation are finding against Atos, well that's rather a lot of unnecessary stress.

All this bullshit of course is coming at the same time as councils are cutting services to those with disabities. Our family came under fire for that last year - and believe me it was stressful, although they did seem to finally accept my point that they were behaving illegally. Luckily previous case law confirmed that.

Utter nonsense. ONLY 6% of appeals are found to be in error. Whether you like it or not ATOS are getting it right 94% of the time.

Novack, that is rubbish. Even the Charity workers who were helping me this week have got official evidence that 40% of appeals WITHOUT representation were successful, and 70% of appeals WITH representation were successful.

God knows where you are getting your figures from, but theirs were official DWP figures.

The Government have recently been holding crisis meetings because they are astonished by the amount of successful appeals, and it is basically fucking with their budget allowances for next financial year because so many people are winning and having their benefits reinstated on appeal.

When the Government are being blindsided by the amount of people with GENUINE disabilities that qualify for assistance after an appeal, it tells you that their figures for cuts to disability benefits were wildly optimistic.

Which is something they are admitting to behind closed doors, hence making ATOS criteria even tougher for the new PIP, as it is the only way they can keep the budget to the sane level as they had hoped for.

You need to get new sources, Novack.

Mine are working for the DWP...

I took my fIgures from the DWP and the guardian as I know you all love that tabloid.

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/02/work-programme-chris-grayling Guardian]

[www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/02/work-programme-chris-grayling guardian]

guardian take three

fullfact.org/factchecks/ATOS_ESA_assessments_overturned-3135 Fullfact check of the figures.

And I feel that it is no coincidence that my seizures have got worse and worse over the two years since I have lost my disability benefits, because my disability is a Neurological condition made worse by stress.

What could be more stressful than losing your opportunity to be able to have a shower because your DLA was taken away, or having to eat less meals each day because you still HAVE to find the £230 you need to pay for transport costs each month out of nowhere, because you lost your free bus pass because, oh yes, you lost your DLA.

What could be more stressful than having to try to cook a meal for your children (two if whom also have disabilities btw, though different to mine, and have also not yet got DLA, though the charity is also going to work on that one) when you are falling asleep and burning your arm or face on the job because you have just had a seizure and are post-ictal, yet can't afford to phone the Care Agency to send someone out, because you can't pay them as you no longer get Direct Payments because, oh yes, your DLA has been stopped.

I am on double the amount of anti-seizure meds that I was on two years ago, I am frightened to go to sleep in case I have a nocturnal seizure because I can't afford to replace my anti-suffocation pillows, and they are unlikely to be effective after two years of continuous use. And that's not stressful? And that stress has been DIRECTLY caused by losing my disability benefits. ALL of it.

The stress of losing my DLA, ESA and Direct Payments HAS had a negative effect on my health, that is even noted in my medical file by my Neurologist.

So I am sorry to disagree with you Novack, but in respect of my case at least, you're talking bollocks.

I've no idea of your case and if you read this thread never have I commented on your circumstances despite your continual attempt to personalise this thread which was started as a discussion of the facts.

Do you know why the last quarter's figures have dropped so dramatically, Novack?

It's because the DWP have removed the time limit on how long an appeal must be heard in.

Which means that the DWP can drag out an appeal for 6 months, a year, or more now.

Their response to how is the person with disabilities meant to cope financially while they are waiting for their appeal to be concluded? "They will get the back pay if their appeal is successful, so they are going to get the money". Doesn't fucking help them in the meantime, does it?!

All of which means that the latest figures are a fucking cover-up of the highest proportions, because that ONLY includes CONCLUDED appeals. It doesn't include the ones that have been waiting 6 months+ to have their appeal heard, all the time in the meantime having has no financial help with their disability!

I am personalising the thread to try to explain to you, without using too many four letter rude words, exactly HOW someone with a GENUINE disability can be affected by a reassessment carried out by ATOS.

Because I AM a real life person with a GENUINE disability, that HAS been adversely affected by ATOS's decision to pass me as fit to work.

You seem unable to comprehend that people with genuine disabilities DO have a lot to fear from repeated reassessments, because the stress of that CAN kill.

Of those initially placed in the 'Fit to Work' category between October 2008 and August 2010 39 per cent felt that they had been incorrectly assessed and appealed in court. In these cases 38 per cent successfully overturned their assessment. This means that of the 462,100 'fit for work' assessments decided between October 2008 and August 2010 69,800 - or 15 per cent - were overturned.

In addition, a potential caveat that we did not initially mention is that the successfully overturned applications in the 'fit to work' category are only those overturned following an appeal. The data from the DWP does not include 'reassessments', which can also result in an overturned application but are not recorded in the appeals statistics.

As we mentioned, appeals data was only available for people in the 'fit to work' category and did not include appeals from people in either recipient group who objected to their category. This imposes significant restrictions on conclusions about the proportion of all applications that are overturned on appeal - precise data for which we do not have access to.

I think given the above (from your link) saying that Atos is getting it right 94% of the time is just a little bit of a distortion.

Ah yes the old 'shutting down debate by daring to provide a personal account' argument so favoured on Mumsnet when the reality contradicts someone's imaginary version of events.

And despite ATOS's assertation that I am fit for work, the worst thing is that the DWP obviously disagree, because they have told me that I don't meet the qualifying criteria for JSA, as I am not fit for FT work in their opinion.

So I can't get ESA on the basis that I am too 'well' for disability benefits, yet I can't get JSA on the basis that I am too 'ill' for work...

Where does that leave me, and the thousands of others like me, except destitute?

I am facing this in just a few short years, when my youngest child goes to school.

And you think that is right?!

Dawndonna - aren't your DH's prescriptions covered by a prepayment certificate? Mine would average £20 per month if I didn't have one.

From the CAB

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_20120817

^CAB advisers helped with more than 97,000 ESA problems in the three months January to March 2012 - up 71 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, making ESA the fastest growing advice issue seen in bureaux.

In the same three month period, bureaux recorded an 82 per cent increase in advice about appeals against ESA decisions. Over a quarter of all advice given by bureaux about ESA concerns appeals. Latest official DWP figures say 32 per cent of appeals against an ESA decision are successful and CAB advisers estimate the success rate at appeal where someone receives specialist CAB advice and is represented is around 80 per cent.^

So it seems that even the DWP is saying 32% of appeals are successful?