Caught out: DWP ministers who claimed a million sickness benefit claimants had been found ‘fit for work’ – kept real data from public view

Well over half a million sickness benefits appeals have succeeded – why has the DWP kept this quiet?

DWP ministers said only 9% of ESA decisions were wrong. Our research reveals the DWP have been quoting from figures which state 151,800 appeals have succeeded. Our evidence shows the true figure to be at least 567,634 – casting serious doubt over 43% of 1,302,200 ‘fit for work’ decisions.

ilegal Press Release – 16th June 2013

The DWP’s internal figures reveal a much higher number of successful ESA appeals than have been made publicly available.
A DWP reply on 13 June 2014 to a Freedom of Information Act request made as part of an investigation in to DWP figures relating to the controversial Work Capability Assessment by ilegal.org.uk has revealed that of 1,287,323 ESA appeals, at least 567,634 claimants have had the original DWP decision overturned in their favour.

Read the rest of this article on ‘Illegal’ here: http://ilegal.org.uk/thread/8640/release-staggering-numbers-overturned-secrecy?page=1&scrollTo=21759

Atos gets vote of no confidence from council

Atos, the firm running the government’s work capability assessments for tenants on disability benefits, has been hit with a vote of no confidence by Islington Council’s executive.

The vote comes after a council scrutiny investigation raised significant concerns about the performance of Atos.

It is believed to be the first time a local authority has made a direct challenge to the government over the poor performance of Atos in determining eligibility for benefits.

Atos, a French multinational IT services corporation, carries out assessments on people to assess eligibility for a range of disability benefits, including employment support allowance (ESA) and the new personal independence payment (PIP), which has replaced disability living allowance (DLA).

Of 108 ESA appeals made by Islington residents and assisted by the council in the 18 months to September 2013, 95 were won – almost 90%. Islington has over 13,000 disabled residents.

Regionally, 45% of all appeals against Atos ESA ‘fit for work’ decisions in London have been successful.

Cllr Richard Watts, the council’s leader, said: “Many of Islington’s disabled residents are already in work or would like to work and Islington Council is proud to support them. However, it’s important those who can’t have financial security. The government wants to cut the benefits bill by 20% and the assessment process is weighted against the disabled claimant, limiting the number allowed.

“Disabled residents deserve far better than this over-reliance on dangerously simplistic computer questionnaires. Atos’s performance in Islington has been shocking and we are telling the government we no longer have any confidence in them.”

People who have been assessed have complained Atos methodology is too simplistic, ignores medical evidence and assessors lack the high level of knowledge and understanding required.

Disabled mother-of-four Hatije Musa, who used to work in an Islington primary school until multiple health problems ended her career, was told she was fit for work despite serious health conditions including cancer and heart disease.

Ms Musa: “I’d love to work but I can’t due to my cancer, asthma, liver and heart disease, and I am not going to get better. Atos assessors should understand the effect radiation treatment has on the body longer term. I submitted and resubmitted doctors’ letters but Atos weren’t interested. They check if you have trouble walking or can lift your arms up but they don’t listen to you as a person. And they don’t care about how ill and tired your conditions make you feel each day – which can vary.

“The assessment system makes you tired and depressed and I was so angry and upset after my back to work interview – I was pronounced fit and my income support was stopped.

“Thanks to Islington Law Centre, I got my benefits back on appeal.”

 

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com, 18th October 2013, http://www.24dash.com/news/local_government/2013-10-18-Atos-gets-vote-of-no-confidence-from-council

Crackdown on disability benefits costs taxpayer £66m in appeals costs

Appeals bill soars over claims Atos ‘is getting more decisions wrong than ever before’

 

The Government’s crackdown on disability benefit payments has cost the taxpayer more than £66m in appeals, it emerged on Sunday.

Figures released to the Labour Party showed that the cost of tribunals hearing employment and support allowance (ESA) appeals trebled from £21m in 2009/10 to £66m in 2012/13.

The shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Liam Byrne, said the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) needed to “get a grip” and laid some of the blame at the door of Atos, the company controversially contracted to run work capability assessments on behalf of the DWP, saying “more decisions are wrong than ever before”.

But the DWP said the figures were “completely unsurprising”, as the number of work capability assessments carried out for new claims rose from 648,000 in 2009/10 to 723,000 in 2011/12. They added that, overall, only 15 per cent of all fit for work decisions were overturned on appeal.

Labour, citing House of Commons library evidence, claimed the increased costs since 2010 seemed “likely to be related to an increasing proportion of claimants appealing against a refusal of ESA, due perhaps to increased publicity and campaigns by third parties”.

The Justice Minister Helen Grant acknowledged that a rise in the number of appeals was partly to blame for the increase in costs to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

The total number of appeals, dealt with both inside and outside tribunals, has increased 66 per cent from 279,000 in 2009-10 to 465,500 in 2012-13. “The increased cost is due to inflationary uplifts and also due to the expansion of the tribunal to deal with the increased volume of appeals received,” she said.

ESA was introduced in 2008 under the last Labour government.

Sarah Lambert, head of policy at the National Autistic Society (NAS), said: “The figures show what the NAS has long been arguing – the current system is producing too many wrong decisions which are inevitably costing more to the taxpayer.

by Oliver Wright in ‘the Independent’ 21/7/13

ESA appeals more than double – and decisions in the claimant’s favour are increasing

Mike Sivier's blog

The number of appeals against decisions made after Atos work capability assessments has rocketed, with an increase in tribunal decisions in favour of the claimant – according to official government figures.

The government’s Tribunals Statistics Quarterly for January 1 to March 31 this year records a 33 per cent increase in the number of appeals (“receipts” in the language of the document), compared with the same period in 2012 – that’s a rise of almost one-third to 255,084.

It states: “The increase in the overall number of receipts was mainly due to the 37 per cent increase in the number of appeals received in social security (note: not “welfare”) and child support in 2012/13, compared to the same period in 2011/12.

“This was driven by appeals in relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which more than doubled over between Q4 2011/12 and Q4 2012/13 and accounted for 70 per cent of…

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Government spends £37m fighting benefit cut appeals

Ministers spent £37 million in just eight months defending a torrent of appeals against decisions to strip people of benefits.

The flood came after the Government made people claiming Employment and Support Allowance take a work capability assessment to see if they were able to get a job.

But new official figures show between April and December last year, the Government faced 163,250 appeals from individuals who lost benefits after taking the test. In total, 140,495 went on to be fought out at a tribunal, with the Government winning 57 per cent — 80,305 cases, while 59,493 claimants won their appeals.

Harrow West Labour MP Gareth  Thomas said the high number of successful appeals exposed flaws in assessment. “The system is clearly not working as it stands… vulnerable people are caused immense distress by having their application refused only to then win it on appeal,” he said. “Considerable resources are being taken up which could be used to target the small number of people genuinely undertaking benefit fraud, rather than those legitimately entitled to support.”  

The figures come after two people with mental health problems last week won a legal challenge against the work capability assessment. Judges ruled the test put people with mental illness, autism and learning difficulties at a big disadvantage.

from the London Evening Standard 28th May 2013