Who Gives an Atos !

So unemployment has reached a 17 year high, the Government has plans to introduce a piece of nonsense called the Welfare Reform Bill along with changes to the Housing Benefit system you can only wonder how it will end.

Presently, all Income Support and Incapacity claims are being replaced by Employment Support Allowance which require all those who are classified  as Disabled or suffer from Long Term  Sickness, by their own GP’s,  being put through a degrading and humiliating Medical Assessment, most of the time conducted by Specialist Nurses employed by ATOS HEALTHCARE, a division of ATOS IT who’s gross annual revenue is £8.6 Billion, and who are disgustingly paid over £100 Million per year by the Government, to deem the most sick and vulnerable within our society fit for some form of work.

Three quarters of those who attend these Medicals will indeed be cured by the key stroke of a keyboard, and will find themselves not within the qualifying criteria to receive the replacement Employment Support Allowance, unless they take their case to Appeal.  Whilst waiting they will receive only the bare essential component of Employment Support Allowance although their daily needs or medical conditions have not changed.

If successful, and most are, they will then indeed be entitled the full Employment Support Allowance an entitlement they received under the old Income Support and Incapacity Benefit system.  All of this can take up to 9 months to resolve and in some cases longer. There have been cases of many who have not lived long enough for their Appeal Cases to be heard.  So far it has cost the Government a staggering £80 Million for the cost of these Appeals.  Although, Atos are responsible for initially considering individuals fit for work, they are under no obligation to refund any cost back to the Government when someone has a successful Appeal outcome.

But really at the end of the day with the soaring unemployment figures can we really believe that the jobs are really available for the disabled and long term sick, or should the Government just be honest and tell the public that the Government had misappropriated the National Health Contributions spending the money unnecessarily elsewhere, or that’s what I’ve heard.

On the other hand the Government is determined to introduce their Work Programmes, funded by the Government again from the public purse and lining the already bulging pockets of their own.  In order to justify the need for such programmes they will need the clients, and with little or no choice those who are the most vulnerable and ill will be FORCED to attend.

Shame on you all…