HOW TO SURVIVE THE ESA ASSESSMENT PROCESS - PART 4

Before I go through the FAQs available on ATOS’ website - I MUST give you a link to the best website I have come across yet for help with this (and many other) work and benefit related issues.  "Benefits and Work" provide a great deal of very useful free information but I suspect that the greatest benefit can be derived through ‘Subscribing’ for one year at a cost of £19.47.  There is a wealth of downloadable information about the ESA Assessment, the Appeal Process and information concerning application and appeal for Disability Living Allowance.  I would suggest it is an absolute must for anyone currently going through any of these tortuous – if not torturous – procedures.

FAQs are available as a downloadable .pdf file from the bottom of the "What A Claimant Can Expect" page of the ATOS Healthcare UK website.  ("Frequently Asked Questions")

1. ATOS maintain that their role is to ‘help determine benefit entitlement based on the extent to which a claimant’s health condition or disability affects their capability for work’.  A look at the ‘Limited Capability For Work – Test / Score Sheet’ (downloadable from Benefits and Work, if you are a paid-up subscriber) shows that it is so designed as to give very low scores to all but the most SEVERELY affected claimants with either physical or mental health issues.  Any claimant who appears able to walk, talk, and carry out simple, basic tasks cannot possibly achieve a high enough ‘score’ to qualify for the ‘support group’  and will therefore (a) be classed fit to seek work and (b) if they are currently in receipt of Incapacity Benefit, the claimant’s income can legally be reduced by approximately £30.00 per week.

2. ATOS further maintain that all their doctors and nurses must be registered with the General Medical Council, Nursing & Midwifery Council or Health Professions Council and must have a minimum of 3 years’ broad-based experience.  They further claim that all their medical staff “must have received post-training approval from the DWP Chief Medical Adviser in the appropriate benefit”.  Having looked at LCW test/score sheet, I would say that this was complete overkill.  A trained chimpanzee could tick the boxes on this form and be sure of arriving at the desired outcome (from the DWP’s point of view)!

3. ATOS claim that they do not use specialists in particular conditions because “the DWP considers ATOS Healthcare Professionals to be specialists in disability analysis”.  I suspect that the real reason is simply that specialists would recognise the farcical nature of the “tick-box’ system, would not “stick to the rules” and as a consequence, many more seriously ill / disabled claimants would be found to qualify for “support group” status and the DWP would then be unable to cut their benefits!

4. ATOS state that there is no time limit on individual assessments and they are tailored to individual needs.  If this were true, how would they be able to ‘schedule’ appointments for claimants?  Again, having read the LCW Test / Score Sheet, this claim is decidedly disingenuous – it is impossible to “tailor” a tick-box list!

5. Concerning the difference between Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) – ATOS distinguishes between them relatively honestly (for them).  LCW applies to anyone who is capable of carrying out some form of work “with the right help”, whereas LCWRA applies to those whose condition is “so severe (such as terminal illness) that it would be unreasonable to expect them to engage in any work-related activity”. As the test sheet shows – LCW will apply to most people who are not actually either dying or in a coma!

6. See [5] above

7. ATOS boldly admit that Non Functional Descriptors will be considered to apply to “a very small minority of conditions which would not qualify for inclusion in the ‘support group’ but may still be considered as having a limited capability for work”.  In other words – those with mental health conditions or long-term untreatable illnesses / disabilities etc. MAY still be considered as falling into the ‘support group’.  I’d love to hear from anyone who has been granted ‘support-group’ status under the Non Functional Descriptor rules and without first having to go to appeal!

8. ATOS’s answers to this question regarding quality control are lengthy, detailed – and meaningless!  One has only to read the newspapers, check out the online fora or talk to those who have been through the Assessment process to know that “consistent, high-quality, independent assessments” are not even part of the brief!  If their quality control is so meticulous I wonder how they explain the fact that 70% of claimants who appeal are successful in having ATOS’ “consistent, high-quality, independent assessments” overturned!  Their statistical waffle on this point would be laughable, were it not so serious for those whom it affects!

9. ATOS state that doctors, nurses and physiotherapists on their staff receive
1. Generic training
2. Training to undertake benefit specific assessments
3. Scrutiny and file work training.

Apparently, doctors train for 8 days and nurses / physios for 17 days specifically in respect of their duties while working for ATOS.  Why?  How long does it take to teach someone to fill out a tick-box computerised form?   A day or two at most, I think you’ll agree.  So what are they ‘teaching’ them during the rest of their training?  Could it be the ‘cod-psychological’ tricks designed to catch claimants out and reduce their ‘scores’ as much as possible?  You have to wonder, don’t you?

10.  Regarding the vexed question of fluctuating conditions, ATOS state that their “Healthcare Professionals are expected to be mindful of the fact that many illnesses produce symptoms that vary in intensity over time”.  I’m sure they are!  But I don’t believe that they are expected to use that to the benefit of the claimant – quite the reverse, in fact, if outcomes to-date are taken into consideration.  Apparently, “if the healthcare professional is of the clinical opinion that the history & clinical evidence provided is consistent with the nature of the diagnosed illness, they are instructed that they should advise the ‘decision maker’ that the customer is incapable of performing the activity”.  Once again, this statement is in direct contradiction of the experience of the vast majority of claimants who have been through this process to date!  I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this answer is untruthful – but I strongly suggest that it is highly disingenuous!
11.  ATOS seem carefully to avoid the question of whether or not their ‘healthcare professionals’ are actually qualified to assess mental health.  They hide behind the catch-all phrase “whether a customer [sic!] meets the criteria set out by the DWP for each mental health activity”.  [I would have thought that the DWP was ATOS ‘customer’ and not the individual claimant, since it is the government who pays for this process.]
12.  In answer to the question of why additional medical evidence is not requested for all claimants, ATOS make another of their now-familiar double-shuffle responses.  They will request further medical evidence from a GP or specialist “where information supplied on their medical questionnaire would suggest that the ‘customer’ may be eligible for the ‘support group’”.  They neatly side-step the fact that claimants are allowed to include this ‘additional medical evidence’ with the medical questionnaire, provided, of course, that the claimant is prepared to pay a fee to their GP for the privilege (sometimes as much as £70.00!).  This implies, but does not state, that if claimants are invited for a face-to-face assessment, the decision that they do not qualify for ‘support group’ status has already been made!
13. ATOS freely admit that claimants cannot see a copy of the report prepared about them until it has filtered back to their local JobCentre Plus office.  No indication is given as to how long this might take!
14. Once again, the answer to this FAQ appears to be distinctly disingenuous.  ATOS state that it is “specifically designed to complement the functional assessment”.  Judging from the test/score sheet, the physical assessment involves tasks of such a low level that most people not in a wheelchair would be able to carry them out with ease!
15.  ATOS state that you can have a home visit if your GP can provide medical evidence that you are unable to travel to an assessment centre.  It does not give any clues as to what would be the criteria for this, nor does it state whether mental conditions such as agoraphobia or severe anxiety / panic attacks would be taken into consideration for a home visit.
16.  17 & 18 Are relatively straightforward and well detailed.

19. In answer to this question, ATOS state that they are NOT incentivised to get people off benefits.  I suspect that this is true and that they receive a ‘flat fee’ for their services.  However, I would suggest that their initial remit was such as to make all test criteria of such a low level that only the most severely handicapped claimants would qualify for ‘support group’ status.

20. Of course, it is true that ATOS do not actually make decisions regarding benefits.  However, it is part of their remit to provide a report to the ‘decision maker’ (the local JobCentre Plus office) and as we have seen, based on the criteria used in their tests, only a very small number of claimants would qualify for ‘support group’ status and most claimants would therefore receive a cut in benefit.

21. ATOS claim that no time limit is set in which their ‘healthcare professionals’ must complete an assessment.  Again, if this is true, I wonder how they go about scheduling assessment appointments?

These are the 21 FAQs covered in ATOS’ own downloadable document.   At the bottom of the "What A Claimant Can Expect" page on ATOS’ website, there is also a downloadable document by the DWP entitled “About Your Medical Assessment” which any claimant would be well advised to read before undergoing the assessment interview. In addition, there is a link whereby you can contact ATOS if you have any queries which are not covered in the foregoing list.  My next posting will be on the Appeal Process, once I have carried out as much research as I can about this stage of the proceedings.  Any and all constructive comments and/or suggestions on the subject of the ESA Assessment process will be warmly welcomed by the writer!