tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584110836320240796.post5629987810438045854..comments2023-06-01T04:14:47.353-07:00Comments on The ESA Saga: THE REAL BENEFIT FRAUDSTERSTia Juniorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13991968296961226066noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584110836320240796.post-10025661387816763712011-12-01T13:11:22.057-08:002011-12-01T13:11:22.057-08:00I do like the final quote D&K.
I know what yo...I do like the final quote D&K. <br />I know what you mean - incompetence or down and outright nastiness - with ID-S & Chris Grayling, definitely the latter. There is a wonderful German phrase”Arbeit Macht Frei” which simply means “work liberates”, which sums up ID-S’s philosophy perfectly. The German phrase is however best known for the fact that it appeared over the entrance to Auschwitz and a few other similar sites, so it not too popular with the Tories and best used sparingly.<br />I only gave up all semblances of sympathy and benefit-of-the-doubt relatively recently. Although many of the DWP staff you come into contact with are not responsible for much of this, if they are the customer-facing part of DWP they know what to expect a lot of the time. It is quite possible to be insistent, persistent and firm without being rude or too vitriolic - much the same with the Atos “Customer Service” staff.<br />Your advisor is sadly right. Atos certainly don’t do the job as well as they could, but at the end of the day CG has made the DMs the pivot point, so it all sits with them. In terms of actually bringing about a change, PR, lobbying etc are all very well, but we need a bigger cosh, which I thing relies on a legal challenge of some kind – although ID-S et al are trying to nobble the Tribunals Service, they are some way off influencing the entire justice system. The problem is in finding the right and best battleground. There is potentially one over the 12 month limit to ESA in the pipeline and possibly another that I’ve part covered in http://tia-junior.blogspot.com/2011/12/culpability-of-dwp-decision-maker-not.html <br />If you can get your MP’s ear, worth a try – there are certain things they have to pursue for their constituents. Mine unfortunately is a staunch Tory, but has to pass certain things on nevertheless. I’ve blogged odd things I’ve used and not a week passes where I don’t email him at least once about some aspect of all of this. Largely pointless I know, but you kind of have to do what you can . . . Vested interest in highly pervasive regrettably.Tia Juniorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13991968296961226066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584110836320240796.post-88457130252924954332011-12-01T12:18:14.820-08:002011-12-01T12:18:14.820-08:00Good blog! I couldn't agree more with all of y...Good blog! I couldn't agree more with all of your posts that I've read so far.<br />One has to wonder whether it's incompetence (shoddy system devised by ATOS just to get their hands an a cool hundred million of taxpayers money every year) or outright dishonesty.<br />I have chronic fatigue/M.E. and was found capable of work twice (once while claiming IB, then again before my appeal for that one when I had to claim ESA) and fortunately had my IB reinstated on appeal. I've no idea how I passed my 12 month IB review assessment.<br />The ridiculous part of my experience with the ATOS gestapo is that I am doing my darnedest to improve my situation - Graded Exercise Therapy to improve my energy levels, and I'm also doing 4 hours of voluntary work per week to try to improve my mental energy (CFS/ME causes mental as well as physical fatigue), yet I was flat out told by my job centre advisor (a great guy who treats me like a human being) to not mention any of that, as it'd all just be taken as evidence that I'm fit for work, in their blinkered yes/no system!<br /><br />I wrote to Iain Duncan Smith shortly after he was appointed Secretary for Work & Pensions, highlighting the many failures of the system as it stands, only to receive a standard letter from a flunky describing to me how the system works. Or how they think it works in the la-la land they inhabit.<br /><br />Anyway, I just wanted you to know that someone is reading this & agreeing wholeheartedly. The more voices there are decrying this sham of a benefits system, and the current trend of victimising & blaming the ill and poor, the better.<br />(As the Californian pop-punk band The Descendents put it, "you can only be a victim if you admit defeat"!)DoomedAndKnackeredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17132716542576877848noreply@blogger.com