Would Atos and DWP do the decent thing and return the loss of benefit income to the original one's genuine of the 36-7% non renewals of benefits due to being to ill to attend those assessments. Nearly 2 years of lost benefits and living just on Mid Rate of DLA not to forget of course being hospitalised for overdosing during that time. The loss of contact with family due to the rediculas situation that I was under during all that time. Lost the first 18 months of my nephews birth. Even now I struggle to maintain any true closeness with family and freinds now to to fear of what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for covering this. The silence of the television news, even as they report on the laughable Migration Watch report that mistakes correlation for causation (in a way that would embarass a 1st year social science undergrad), speaks volumes about the priorities of much of the media sadly.

ATOS shoud be made to pay the tribunal costs for every succesful appeal against their assessment, not the taxpayer. Costs for Tribunals are running at £50 million last year and predicted to be £80 million this year.

The government response has been to threaten to withdraw even the assessment rate of benefit for anyone who appeals an incorrect decision, leaving them with no income at all while sick. It is also closing Legal Aid funding for legal advice for appeals.

Meanwhile ATOS carries on getting over £100 million a year for making grossly inaccurate decisions without any penalty from the government.

Sixteen people are known to have committed suicide as a result of their medicals ie reported in local newspapers. The anecdotal number of people who know someone who has suffered severe mental health breakdown, anxiety or absolute poverty as a result is overwhelming.

This barbarity must end.

I do not believe the system has improved.

Two years ago Atos scored me at zero; nearly 11 months later the tribunal, after completing only half of the questions, had scored me at 24. My complaints about the blatant errors in the assessment report were ignored by DWP and Atos.

A few months ago I started receiving requests for me to complete anther form, and attend another assessment. By this time I was retired from work, on a private pension, and had not been eligible for ESA for over a year but in spite of several calls to DWP, the letters kept coming.

In the end I attended the appointment, because Atos were sending threatening letters. I have no idea what I scored this time, as that was the last I heard from them.

DWP haven't replied to me complaints about this. (Although I assume that Atos were paid for pestering me and conducting an assessment on someone who wasn't claiming any benefits?)

Latest reported cases of loss of life maple5 it's 31 now I believe and that dosn't include all the hidden ones, which i suspect there will be plenty.

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I had a full blown panic attack in front of an Atos assessor and was so distressed that the receptionist refused to let me travel home alone and called me a cab. I got zero points for mental health and was passed 'fit for work'.

That was after I'd asked for a female assessor (as one of the reasons I'm claiming is for PTSD and other mental health issues after rape), was refused on the day and told if I didn't see the male assessor that my benefits would be stopped without appeal. Terrified I'd end up losing my flat, we soldiered through the assessment , getting the receptionist check online for a Polish-English translation of 'gallbladder' (the other reason I'm claiming) as the assessor didn't know what it was, only for me to freak out completely when he insisted on examining me physically without a chaperone. Despite sobbing and panicking during the exam, he then informed me that because I'd let him touch me, I was obviously lying about being raped and therefore couldn't have any of the mental health issues I said I had because I'd been raped. I was so distressed I don't really remember getting home and was affected for weeks, having to have my meds increased by the doctor.

Just to top it off, he gave me zero points for physical health as well and I had to appeal, leaving me in a financial black hole for months and very grateful for my overdraft.

The latest Harrington report of the WCA (November 2011) noted that the CAB wanted the ATOS assessment to be based on a "real world test", not some sort of hypothetical "you're fit for work" scenario such as we have now.

The report noted (point 52 on page 36) that "employability" was a separate issue to "work capable". So a person who ATOS view as "work capable" is very likely to be not employable. This much is an admission.

So the "hard working taxpayer" is being sold a dud.

"Look, they can all work really, skivers the lot of them" propaganda really means
"we want to stop your money to save money and we don't care what happens to you."

So how many people kicked off ESA and IB have ended up in employment then? I don't ever remember these figures being announced. It's all propaganda and brainwashing. The "hard working taxpayer" versus the sick, disabled and unemployed. Something for the "hard working taxpayer" to remember is that they can soon join the ranks of the sick, disabled and unemployed, so they better be careful what they wish for re benefit reforms.

Even though it is costly, claimants need to get the sessions recorded, so that they have a record of how they answered. They have a legal right to do so as long as it you use a professionally qualified person

Many sound engineers work in the evening, but are free during the day and would charge around £25 per hour.

You have to apply doe permission in in writing stating the sound engineer's qualifications, along with the professional sound equipment and programmes that will be used to process the recording.

It is the only way to 'encourage' the assessor to fill in the correct information on their computer.

As for everything else, another example of wasted money and resourses and victimisation of those least able to fight for what they are entitled to.

Any company who had a major error rate of nearly 40% would be considered a failure in the private sector. Any company who had an error rate of near 70% when those who allege the error are professionally represented would have long since been bankrupt by now.

However, ATOS make their money in large part through public sector contracts. They make their money by allegedly refusing, in a highly suspect and possibly unmedical way, a large number of sick and disabled people the insurance they paid into. This company, with their high failure rate, are clearly allegedly incompetent and their wasteful contract with the government should be terminated immediately. Sick and disabled people should be assessed by qualified, knowledgeable doctors and/or nurses who have an understanding of disability, both mental and physical and the often nuanced way their afflictions affect their day-to-day life and ability to work or not. It is disgusting and to Britain's shame that we have let this company allegedly rob the taxpayer as well as sick/disabled people (who pay taxes, remember) with their alleged incompetence while they laugh their arses to the bank.

We sick and disabled are people, too. Most of us actually would trade a decent life of work in an instant if our ailments could be instantly cured. We do not call people who claim on their private insurance "scroungers" or treat them to the alleged inhumanities of the likes of ATOS, so why treat those who claim on their National Insurance as if we are the scum of this earth?

And as an ironic aside, ATOS also have the contract to deliver the IT system for the Paralympics. I'm sure everyone will understand if they only deliver 40% of it on time.

Every successful appeal should incur a heavy financial penalty for Atos.

The only reason to use such external , private sector, wasters is that they are supposed to offer better VFM.

They patently do not. Thus when they fail to deliver servcice that is 'fit for consumption (let alone purpose) , they should start losing money hand over fist.

If we compare the failed assessments , and successful appeals, against inaccurate assessments the greatest benefit fraud in existence is the money paid to atos for such an unmitigated cock-up as the service they so desperately fail to deliver adequately, let alone to a higher standard of VFM.
The service derived from atos is ridiculously expensive and creates more hassle and costs than it ever could have hoped to 'cure'.

Perhaps it is time a panel of disabled assessed Atos' ability and appropriateness to deliver any assessment process.

And as an ironic aside, ATOS also have the contract to deliver the IT system for the Paralympics. I'm sure everyone will understand if they only deliver 40% of it on time.

Don't be shocked if Atos software removes 60% of competitors from the entry lists and declares them 'fit to compete in the general Olympics'.

If anyone can manage a bit of speed in a wheelchair Atos will probably claim that as evidence they do not need a a car and remove their DLA mobility element.

I took a Dictaphone with me to a friend's assessment as I had heard of the injustices that were taking place. The interviewer would not allow me to use it and refused to carry on with the interview if I did not switch it off (what do they have to hide?). So I wrote notes instead and true to form the resulting report did not match up with the questions that were answered by the claimant. I.e. 'Do you enjoy watching films?' culminated in ' Mr ... watches TV throughout the day' !!! Am I correct in my understanding that ATOS assessors get paid a bonus for each claimant that they can move onto ESA or JSA? Ahem.....

Yes, I understand that it is 31 currently who have died while waiting for their appeal to be heard that they were fit for work, but the 16 I mentioned is those known to have committed suicide as a result of their medical.

I.e. 'Do you enjoy watching films?' culminated in ' Mr ... watches TV throughout the day' !!!

They had problems with my TV habits actually. I was asked "do you watch TV?", I answered "I have it on, but I can't follow a plot" (still true; I just kid myself I can, it helps me get through the day, and I like watching the people), the report said "has no problems watching television". I'm not sure how anything one says or does at an assessment can lead someone to think "this person is lying about their TV viewing habits". It's not as if they show Lord of the Rings in the waiting room; "Ah-ha! You were looking at the hobbits you lying scumbag, we saw you!".

It's just out and out lying on their part, the bunch of chancers.

Was diagnosed with bladder cancer in Sept last year, the team looking after me have been gods in my opinion.
End of December 2011 got the ATOS questionaire, filled it out explaining i had just done a grueling 9 chemo sessions, was about to get my bladder, prostrate and lymph nodes removed, chased ATOS up in the new year and was bitterly disapointed to be told i was off their radar for at least a year.
I suspect it was because i was in the process of assembling a team of forensic accountants, loss adjustors and medical insurance specialists as well as my oncology team to explain to a district judge that i was fuckin ill.
Imagine working for ATOS, then think how hard people work in cancer wards up and down the land , its hard to imagine that they are in the same field, mind you Mengele was a medic.

Malcolm Harrington is notorious for his belief that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy should be forced to 'prove' they really are too ill to work (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/06/cancer-patients-welfare-work-tests).

Re the main article:

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman says the report does not acknowledge the ongoing changes to the assessment system, designed to iron out some of its flaws.

This is a nasty little trick they've got going on. By the time the latest study showing how disasterous the system is comes out, they've tweaked it a little, perhaps disqualifying chemotherapy patients or similar, then they say "oh but it's not the same test". Balls. How much has it actually been improved? Actually?

Incidentally, and someone else here may know more about this than me, but there is supposed to be an exemption for anyone likely to hurt/kill themselves or others if found fit for work. Clearly it's not being applied properly; no-one should be left to die by the system, let alone killed by it directly.

Incurable

. We do not call people who claim on their private insurance "scroungers" or treat them to the alleged inhumanities of the likes of ATOS, so why treat those who claim on their National Insurance as if we are the scum of this earth?
Can I just say that many private insurance companies would like nothing more than to treat us as if we were scroungers for daring to claim on our policies!

Malcolm Harrington is notorious for his belief that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy should be forced to 'prove' they really are too ill to work (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/06/cancer-patients-welfare-work-tests)

.

That perfectly demonstrates the sick & disabled are the least important in this vile scheme.

GP's & hospital concultants up & down the land are well trained experts in health & sickness yet the govt prefer spending a further £100m plus appeal costs on a private company to fail & fail so spectacularly.

I was born with Cerebral Palsy and have PTSD

I completed my IB 50 some years ago since then I have developed new medical conditions. Diabetes and nueropathy

I was never asked in for a work focused interview because I was deemed a PVP potentially violent person a Psychiatric report and a occupational health nurses somewhat hysterical letter along with my IB 50 seemed enough.

I am awaiting a phone call from job jobcentre plus to start my migration onto Esa.

I have started having vivid violent nightmares,I hate Atos beyond words. I can only think this fiasco will end badly for all those involved including myself.

NB best wishes to all those who have suffered at the hands of Atos.
I may not be in a fit enough state to say this at a later date.

One has to wonder if the politicians involved aren't getting a share of this booty from Atos. I've been sayiong for years welfare reform was no more than a raid on the public purse carried out by crooked businessmen and corrupt politicians. Have you seen Chris Grayling trying to answer direct questions about how any of this is suppsoed to work in the real world? Laughable. Get him, IDS, Carol Black, Purnell, the whole sorry crew of them in the dock and let's see them wriggle and squirm in there.

when will you get it. you and me as disabled people don't matter. you have no life, if you are fit enough to have a partner that means you might be fit enough to have sex so that means you are fit enough to work. i know a man who has epilepsy, has a crumbling spine and is expected by his doctors to be in a wheelchair very soon, he has been told he cannot claim jsa as he can't work, but he has been told by atos that because he can lift his right arm that he can work, doing what they won't tell him, so he can't get esa. take me for example, i suffer severe pain, low mobility, severe depression, asthma and mild tourettes and aspergers syndrome all of which have slowly become much worse over the last few years, i must admit that i have been lucky and i get esa and dla. but according to the government i must spend the rest of my life alone because if i do get a partner i must rely on them for my caring needs and my income. my decades of work, my six years of service in the army, the fact that i brought up my 3 kids alone whilst working full time mean nothing. i have the label disabled, if i am seen to have smiled how can i be depressed, if i manage to go out without a panic attack, or walk a couple of yards, or get through the day without an asthma attack then i must be a fake, if i get lonely thats tough, i'm disabled so i don't get to have a girlfriend or i will lose my benefits. what happened to my human right to a family life oh, no i'm not human i'm disabled i forgot. as disabled people we are increasingly being told by our own government we are nothing but scroungers and lowlife. they used to say that a country could be judged by the way it treats its sick, disadvantaged and disabled, god help us british then. i have spoken on facebook to other disabled people in the international community on facebook and they are outraged for us its not our country thats sick and broken, its our government. i'm ashamed that i was a soldier, i'm ashamed i defended a place like this and i'm ashamed to be british, and ashamed to be even a part of the same species as men like cameron and clegg.

A one word reply to your post we are

Untermensch

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Just a slight correction its "ich bien en untermensch" and dont you fuckin forget it, dealing with cancer of the bladder is easier than dealing with these fuckers, in one sense we are blessed because with the comeing of even more new technology corruption between commerce and goverment does not stand a fuckin chance thats why its intresting to see who is on the scene and who is keeping their heads down. rather like secertary general Boorman being compared to say Rudolph Hess, one a true professional bastard and the other an an incompetent fool who to quote George Bush misunderestimated the competition.

My partner has been deemed fit to work and we are currently working towards an appeal, he has a condition that effects his muscles and tendons, so he doesn't have anything strength, so he can pick up an empty cup but not one full of water, things like that. He also cannot carry out any personal takes, feed himself, get out of his chair, he can use a computer for very short amounts of time (he can manage about half an hour a day).

He was deemed fit to work as he can hold an empty plastic beaker and because he can use a phone and a computer for very limited amounts of time. Yes he can do those things, but being realistic who would employ someone to work from home for 30 minutes a day depending on when he happens to have a good day. Then you have to consider that he needs help going to the toilet and being fed, so he couldn't work outside the home unless he had a carer, which we can't afford and an employer wouldn't pay for.

The issue is if I wrongly claim benefits I'm not entitled to I am punished, yet if the likes of ATOS incorrectly assess someone they are paid again to re-assess that person. Surely as these private companies gain more money for refusing claims they are more likely to do so, especially as they will earn more money upon appeal, they should receive the same amount whether the person is declared fit to work or not and if found to be incorrect they should receive a fine or have to give back the fee gained from that assessment.

We also have to consider that people carrying out assessments not only don't have to see the person within their home but they have no knowledge at all of that persons condition, for those with varying conditions there is also no consideration, it is assumed that if one day you are okay, then your bad days are completely ignored, it is pot luck as to how fit you are on your assessment day.

A lot of the survivors of the nazi's said pretty much the same thing, it was the sheer random chance of it all, thats what stands out , it seems the weaker and more vulnerable you are the greater the chances of being picked on, nasty stuff indeed.

The Coalition (and Labour) are bullies. They must enjoy tormenting sick and disabled people, as it can't possibly be that they keen to save money. There are far more effective ways of increasing revenue to the Exchequer than cutting disabled people's benefits. Going after the tax evaders and avoiders would bring in many times more than driving disabled people into penury. And of course there's the small matter of the 50% tax rate....

So I can only conclude that the majority of politicians, of all parties, get some sick pleasure out of bullying and tormenting disabled people.

It leaves a very foul taste in the mouth. And you have to wonder why. What do these politicians get out of it?

GHERKINGIRL 5.50

I am so upset and shocked by your story.

There are far too many stories of terrible treatment at the hands of ATOS so called "doctors". I hope you have some support.

Please, if you can, or ask someone else to help you, inform the GMC about this doctor. No decent doctor would examine a woman who has been raped without her full consent and without a chaperone - for his own sake, as much as yours.
Currently, there are at least 12 ATOS doctors under investigation by the GMC.

Equally if a doctor's language skills are so poor he needs a computer to translate "gall-bladder" into Polish for him,how can he possibly understand people discussing complex medical problems? This is not someone fit to practice.

Also there is a website that is collecting the experiences of those who have undergone an assessment. Perhaps you could report your experience to them and get help there. http://www.afteratos.com/

I hope you also make a complaint to ATOS itself. Scroll to the bottom of this page for a contact us link for complaints:

http://www.atoshealthcare.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=31&Itemid=309&Itemid=309

It goes without saying that you must appeal this ridiculous decision and quote what the doctor said to you.

You can get advice on how to appeal from CAB or online from
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/

I wish you all the best and the strength to get through this. Be assured that the mountain of complaints against ATOS will have to be heeded and answered for one day.

What do these politicians get out of it?

An erection, I think. Except in Maria Miller's case, presumably.

I wish the multinational private health and unemployment insurance scandal-waiting-to-happen would hurry up and happen. I want to know who has been holidaying on whose yacht. That's got to be what this is about, surely it's the corporate long game being played.

"If anyone can manage a bit of speed in a wheelchair Atos will probably claim that as evidence they do not need a a car and remove their DLA mobility element."

Don't joke. That is what they are trying to do with PIP. Under new drafts wheelchair use will be taken into account. You will gain different amounts of points according to when you have to start using a wheelchair.
Powerchair or assistant propelled wheelchair: 15points
Manual wheelchair: 12 points
Any wheelchair after walking with an aid for 50 metres: 10 points
Any wheelchair after walking for 50 metres without an aid: 8 points

So if you can only walk for 50 metres and after that need a wheelchair, it no longer looks like you will necessarily qualify for the high rate mobility element regardless of the fact that you will by definition be using a wheelchair to get around.

But hey, that is a great way to cut benefits. Simply redefine disability and "wheelchair user".

atos are nothing but pen pushers clicking all the right boxes for the goverment if you breath your fit for work yeah right did any disabled / sick ask for there condition i do not think so but what makes things worse is the blatent lies atos are doing i was assesed by a phsiophepist (sorry about the spelling ) well to say she got my name correct and not much more is not a lie i even became single lol my partner who does all the house work, cooking shopping and cares for my 2 boys dissappeared apperently i go to parents evenings not been to 1 in 4 years shows how much she nows about disability (sons are autistic) all she seamed to care about was not my illnesses but my sons as all the assessment kept saying was she cooks cleans does her own shopping and is more than capable off looking after her to autistic sons i think all atos workers should be docked there wages if found to be lieing and pay compensation for the added stress they causes us i hve severe rhumatroid autheritus ,mortens neuroma prolapsed bladder and bowel, incontinence . i am taking chemo as part off my treatments to try and stop the rhumatroid spreading i suffer from pure fatigness due to the chemo and rhumatriod i struggle to get to the toilet which is 5 meters from me sleep down stairs not seen upstairs in years but got nil points and she said i could go back to work straight away i have appealed ......the thing is we shouldnt have to they should get it right 1st time i honestly belive i had 0 points before i arrived

I'm researching another piece about ESA and the appeals process. Do email me if you have experiences you'd like to share, or if there's information you think I should be aware of: amelia.gentleman@guardian.co.uk

i've been through the system and now my partner is going through the same thing. ATOS lie through their teeth when it comes to assessment and that's a pure and simple fact. i invite any ATOS medical 'expert' to prove otherwise. my partner suffers from severe mental health problems - according to ATOS he has no such problems and we've been waiting over 8 months now for a tribunal to get that decision overturned. they didn't even record the correct amount of medication he was on so that just shows how little they listen to people when they're in there. they just sit and tick their little boxes and more often than not they tick what they've been told to tick, not the truth. when i was assessed - which i later got overturned after waiting NINE MONTHS for a tribunal because the demand for appeals is so great - they lied about both my physical and mental capabilities to a degree where i was awarded 0 points by them, around 20 points by the tribunal (this was for incapacity so the points system is slightly different now, i think.) they are not fit for purpose and should have the contract taken away from them with immediate effect.

if my doctor and specialist who i've been under for 5 years say i am not fit for work, then i am not fit for work. i do not need some paid-off office drone telling me otherwise. they are not doctors, they have no knowledge of patients background and frankly, they make me sick. they are paid to ruin people's lives and i sincerely hope that ATOS employees can live with themselves after what they've done to my partner and i and thousands like us.

then again, of course they can. they're being paid enough money to live on - unlike us. bastards, the lot of them. if i believed in hell, them, IDS, cameron and all of the swines who've vilified disabled people for so long would be bloody well going.

Savy people are picking up on the fact that there is something very wrong with this outfit, still gutted that i could not utilise my commercial skills to give this lot a realy good kick in the gonads.
As stated in earlier posts people need to network, drop that English reserve, communicate with fellow sufferers , organise, fight back , what is so hideous about this , is its blatant right wing nastiness.
Anyone with commercial experience will tell you this is still one seriously wealthy nation, that is before one considers Russian oligarchs, Saudi princes or others too numerous to mention, who are aware how financialy stable this society is.
Apart from the fact that it goes against everything our forefathers fought for, what is so insulting is its not as if the money is being stashed off-shore , it circulates in the economy.
Smart tories are now accepting that they have bitten off more than they can chew on this one, i will beat my cancer with my excellent support team, avoiding a custodial sentance though when im fit and able will be a little bit more awkward.

My comment has been removed for some reason, I didn't swear in it or insult any other commenters, so I can only assume I am being censored because I compared lobbying to bribery, I don't believe this is something that deserves to have a whole comment removed, especially when from my recollection I didn't accuse any particular company of anything at all.

"a parliamentary question recently revealed that 31 people had died while awaiting their appeal in the three years to last October"

Jesus Christ, this brings tears to my eyes. I cannot find words for it. How can we allow this to happen to our citizens, our own people? Why are we being so bitterly cruel to our neighbours?

What are we going to do as a Nation, because the Labour Party don't give a fuck either. I remember the bleak Thatcher years, but I don't remember anything like this.

Yup, everyone's experience here seems to mirror mine. After being chucked off ESA I appealed, using letters from my psychologist & GP. I was allowed back on. This happened twice until I voluntarily left the scheme at the next assessment (due to being on a manic high and thinking I had Superpowers). Imagine my surprise when the disabilities officer at the Jobcentre told me I wasn't ready to work yet and has treated me sympathetically and helpfully (now doing voluntary work of my own choice which is easing me back into the right frame of mind for working). I really want to work, and I hate being treated as someone who is swinging the lead.

Now swearing would have been okay- but being nasty to lobbyists- tut tut.

The overall number of people claiming DLA has risen from 1.1m in 1992 to 3.2m in 2011, with the current bill standing at £12bn.

It is difficult to believe that this three fold rise in disability is associated with anything other than a cynical manipulation of the "system" by fraudsters. Whilst I have no problem with providing support to those individuals who have a genuine disability it is right that the tax payer is protected from being exploited.

The regular reassessment of those in receipt of tax payers money is necessary in order to remove those individuals who are making inappropriate claims.

Many "disabled" people are more than capable of earning by WORKING. The fact that they may prefer to watch day time TV is no justification for the tax payer to support their idle life style.

Much of this is due to other issues: people being on DLA from the beginning (like my father - a massive stroke 31 years ago led to a DLA award when it first came in) who are still receiving it, while new ones come on board. An increase - massive - in the diagnosis of autism and a recognition of the support needs of those individuals: in 1988, only 42 children in Leicestershire had a diagnosis of autism. We're now in the THOUSANDS! Do you not think that would make a difference?

The government's official figures on fraud show that DLA and ESA are not the worst examples of fraud: and none of it compares even to the government's figures on tax fraud.

DLA is not an out of work benefit: many people work and receive DLA - about 16% of claims. Others are too ill to work - I see a lot of that in my work. I see very little fraud, but I see a lot of people screwed by the system.

A colleague of mine, a Clinical Child Psychologist very rarely makes a diagnosis of "autism", what he does identify are many dysfunctional families, frequently single parent families, who will attempt to manipulate professionals into applying a label to their badly behaved and feral children so they can then access more tax payers money!

We knew we were getting the Nasty Party back with the Tories but this is a despicable way to treat people. It is a mark of a society, the way they treat the vulnerable and this is simply uncivilised. What with Gove's Gestapo marching into schools and reporting directly to the fuhrer and the super rich doing deals with the Inland Revenue to get out of paying tax this is becoming a shitty country to live in.

True.

This is now country at the same end of the moral spectrum as the Nazis, only it's the old, the sick and the disabled instead of the Jews.

The connivance of the corporate media in this system is worse than anything covered by the Leveson Inquiry.

If you search out "FULLFACTS" website they have done the research and have full evedence of that rise from 1.1m in 1992 to 3.2m in 2011. It's certainly doesn't show a system being manipulated by fraudsters. DLA is one of the most difficult of benefits to claim and much of the time esspecially where mental health is concerned, the paper work such as form filling is mostly carried through by pre arranged appointments by CAB and social workers and not the actual individual.

There is an interesting question here:
If Atos err so much towards one side (assessing very ill people fit to work) do they err equally to the other side (giving scroungers a 'disabled' label)?
If they do, that would mean their record is even worse (twice as bad) as it seems, because those people are unlikely to appeal.
If they don't that is clear proof that they have been hired to cut the cost of the ESA at all costs.......

This 'government' hate the disabled so much that they are prepared to waste tens of millions to pay a company filled with Nazis to bully them. This has nothing to do with 'fitness for work.' It is pure intimidation. Claim and we send the boys around.

They say a country should be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable. If so ; England's status - trash, junk, facist.

@jrtmedic Many "disabled" people are more than capable of earning by WORKING. The fact that they may prefer to watch day time TV is no justification for the tax payer to support their idle life style.

Many disabled people would be capable of earning by working at least part time if employers were willing to give them a chance of doing so.

It may have escaped your notice that the UK is some way short of full employment. If you are an employer, and you're faced with a queue of applicants for every position you advertise, how often do you think that it's the applicant with a disability who will get the job?

As my login suggests, I'm British, but I live outside the UK now. The American disability system is not exactly noted for its generosity towards applicants, but in my case the judge noted that my health problems meant that there was "no suitable job in the American economy".

Yes, I can use a computer in relatively short bursts. Yes, I can walk limited distances, albeit slowly. I can't do very much in the way of physical work, though. How many employers do you think want a former research scientist who can only work in 1-2 hour bursts at best, and then has to lie down and/or take narcotics until the next bout of pain subsides?

I don't think there's too much doubt what would happen to me in an ATOS interview, though. The problems come when ATOS deems you fit to work, but employers deem you unfit to work.

In the USA, the Social Security Administration has to find you fit to do a normal working week. Don't think that this means Uncle Sam is a pushover, nothing could be further from the truth. They do have to test you against real-world criteria, though, none of the nonsense I've read about the ATOS tests.

Thanks for covering this. The silence of the television news, even as they report on the laughable Migration Watch report that mistakes correlation for causation (in a way that would embarass a 1st year social science undergrad), speaks volumes about the priorities of much of the media sadly.

I wopuld also venture that it speaks volumes on the attitude of the coalition governments lack of common humanity & the unconscienable methods, or rather lack of them, used by ATOS to deny peole a dignified standard of living.

Don't be old, sick or disabled under this heartless regime.