FoI Act Request - Stopping ESA for the Duration of a WCA appeal

23 October 2011

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

It has been widely reported that DWP is planning to stop ESA payments for the duration of a WCA appeal.

a) Is this true?
b) If so, when is the anticipated start date?
c) How do you justify such a change when the Tribunals Service overturns around 40% of the WCAs that are appealled?
d) How do you expect claimants to manage without any income?
e) This approach treats a claimant as guilty until proven innocent. How do you substantiate this policy against the accepted legal principle of innocent until proven guilty?

Yours faithfully,

FoI Act Request - Anonymity, responsibility and the Atos IT

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

The Joint Committee on the Draft Defamation Bill has said that
anonymity “discourages responsibility”.

Does DWP agree with this statement?

Yours faithfully,

FoI Act request - The background to "Decision Making"

20 October 2011

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Under the current WCA/ESA regime the DM employed by DWP determines
whether of not a claimant continues to receive ESA and if so at
what level.

a) How long has this job role existed?

b) Was it created in conjunction with the decision to outsource WCAs?

c) If it predated the introduction of ESA/WCA in 2008, what task was performed armed with what information?

d) Could anyone (who has been approved by DWP) armed with the same information, same training etc take on the ESA decision making task?

e) If there are limitations on who can make ESA decisions,what are they and where are they specified?

Yours faithfully,

So what expertise does an Atos HCP need?

So what expertise does an HCP need?  Even DWP itself cannot decide . . .

The WCA - what "work" does it mean?

See link below.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-10-18a.74139.h&s=speaker%3A10920#g74139.r0

Chris Grayling claims suppliers have longer than ever to find people sustained jobs through the infamous "Work Programme" and they will need it.  There is a whole raft of issues in this area that have not been thought through, not least of which is the fact the WCA itself does not establish quite what type of work it is checking your capabilities to perform – a steeplejack or a mattress tester?  This is a bit like using a pass/fail QA process without knowing what the test criteria are. 

DWP tries to step round this by claiming you are tested for “general work” whatever that means.  I have asked them to give me some examples of jobs they think I could do and jobs they think I could not manage, but they refuse.  When I give them the examples for a yes/no, they won’t answer these either.  Nor will they explain the characteristics of the type of work they say I can do – full time or part time, shifts etc.  – all a complete cop-out! 

Likewise, the WCA pays little or no attention to the basic disciplines needed to holds down a job – getting there at the same time every day with a condition that is variable, for example.

The way this works according to DWP is that you then discuss any constraints with JC Plus staff, by which time your ESA has stopped and you may be receiving JSA.  You may of course find that the constraints are such that there are realistically no jobs that fit the bill – even at times when overall unemployment is far lower than it us now.  So what happens then as there is no route back to ESA?  They will no doubt manufacture a situation where your inability to find a job is purely your own fault and then stop JSA too – you are just not looking hard enough I’m afraid. 

Do not be under any illusion that there is any intention to help you back into your career/profession – you will be expected to apply for anything and everything.

Atos HCP confirms what we all know.

Article on link is six months old now - it is a shame that it did not receive wider coverage at the time. 

There must be lots of HCPs out there who have worked on WCAs for Atos, have been troubled by conscience and would be willing to confirm what everone who has been through a WCA knows.


http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24468

ESA/WCA/Atos - Latest overall statement from Chris Grayling

Far too rosy a picture, so continued exposure & pressure is vital.

ESA/WCA/Atos - Latest overall statement from Chris Grayling