The one thing that the Atos testing does do well is ensure a steady stream of income flows from the public purse into its coffers. You can see the standard of work it produces form the above article and if you look there are dozens of others, all equally damning. The government’s blunt refusal to stop this testing in the face of overwhelming evidence that it’s medically and socially worse then useless suggests strongly to me that siphoning off public money has been what’s behind these so-called ‘welfare reforms’ all along. This looks more and more to be a criminal matter and should be investigated by the police.

BB

@1

It’s worse than that. Going by the DWP tabulation data and a FOI request made by Work Programme contractors, Atos have (on paper at least) done far less assessments recently than they were doing before. There was a big spike last year and then a complete crash. Atos are paid per assessment though, so they’ve got no reason to be slacking especially as the transition of Incapacity Benefit claimants to Employment Support Allowance started this year. The DWP even predicted that Atos would be assessing 11,000 per week at this point. Yet the information available shows they’re closer to assessing 11,000 *per month* instead, down from 20,000.

Something smells.

If you’re living with a working partner, it won’t make much difference what they do to the test – ‘fit to work’ or not the benefit will stop after 12 months. The whole physical,emotional and economic burden will be put on the working partner.

if i saw someone dying/disabled in the street, & took their wallet/purse, i’d rightly be villified & do time, atos does the same thing, what is the sentence for mugging again, especially if it results in death?
gaol is what they deserve…

“The one thing that the Atos testing does do well is ensure a steady stream of income flows from the public purse into its coffers.”

Agreed.

It’s doesn’t seem to be considered legitimate these days for any public service to be provided without pointless tribute being paid to the commercial bureaucracy industry, even when that means crippling the service in the process…

4. Daz

if i saw someone dying/disabled in the street, & took their wallet/purse, i’d rightly be villified & do time, atos does the same thing, what is the sentence for mugging again, especially if it results in death?

Sorry but ATOS is not taking their money. It is making sure they deserve mine. What is wrong with that? It is not their wallet, it is mine.

gaol is what they deserve…

Everyone who fails their ATOS medical should join them.

5. jungle

It’s doesn’t seem to be considered legitimate these days for any public service to be provided without pointless tribute being paid to the commercial bureaucracy industry, even when that means crippling the service in the process…

How do you know it is pointless? The fact is that the public service has been utterly unable to provide the public with a service. We need the French to come and check on the disabled for us because the public service does not give a f**k about the public or their responsibilities. If we could do it without the private sector we should. But we can’t so we shouldn’t.

@6 – Ah, a new one. Making a claim, which is based on complex factors, and being failed due to an error-prone test criticised extremely widely, should be a criminal offence.

Great. Er. Where are you going to find the money for dozens of jails with extensive medical facilities, again?

“If we could do it without the private sector we should”

We can. It’s just Labour screwed this one up. And the ConDem’s joined the clusterfuck, enthusiastically.

SMFS

“gaol is what they deserve…

Everyone who fails their ATOS medical should join them.”

So not only do you believe these tests are 100% fair and accurate, you also believe that any claimant who fails correctly to anticipate their outcome should go to prison. Nice.

FFS SMFS, I know you’re (presumably) just a troll who gets his kicks by caricaturing right-wing nastiness to wind up liberals. But whether or not you believe the crap you come out with, you are feeding the perception that an MS suffer who happens to be able to hold a pencil on the day of their assessment must be a fraud.

This isn’t about liberal vs. conservative ideas on who should be entitled to what. It’s about a test being so poorly designed that it’s been shown, on appeal, to deliver the wrong result 40% of the time. If a Labour voter like me can accept that his party screwed this one up, I don’t see why someone like you should remain wilfully blind to that possibility.

Proven troll following that comment.