'Fit to work' appeals SUCCESS against ATOS rising
So far, more than a third of appeals against ATOS' decisions that people are fit to work are successful.
Doesn't it make you wonder how many are the genuine claimants who either didn't feel able to appeal against the process or didn't understand it (and so failed by default)?
I will bet my life that most of the scammers and fraudsters go to appeal, because they have nothing to lose and everything to gain - it's many of the genuinely ill who can't make it that far :weep: If everybody were able, then I'm sure myself that the percentage of successful appeals would be closer to 50%.
No-one hates people robbing the State of OUR money more than me, but the present ATOS system is very, very unfair on those genuinely ill.
A link, with some quotes from the BBC article. This story features a man who's been told he will never be able to work again due to physical disability still being told he is 'fit for work' - outrageous:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15681502
Quote:
Peter Reynolds from Linton in Cambridgeshire is one of thousands who believe they were wrongly assessed.
Two years ago he fell off a fork lift truck and is chronically ill.
He has problems with his lungs and his lymphatic system has stopped working.
He uses a wheelchair, needs constant care and has to wear a body suit all the time. He is in and out of hospital on a regular basis.
After his accident Mr Reynolds received sickness benefit but within weeks under new government rules he was asked to prove the extent of his illness.
'Assessment flawed'
He was assessed by Atos as being a suitable case to return to work.
He then went to the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) who organised a reassessment and he was evaluated as not fit for work.
His doctor has told him he will never work again.
Pebble Padfield, the CAB adviser in Cambridge who assisted Mr Reynolds, believes that the assessment process is flawed.
"I think it is undeniable that the onus of proof is on the claimant to show that they are not fit for work.
"How can somebody with chronic depression or with back pain have the confidence and the articulacy at that moment to prove their condition to that person," she said.
For someone like Mr Reynolds the tragedy is he would love to work if he could but his life is taken up with managing his illness.
"If I hadn't got all that is wrong with me I would bite anybody's hand off to give me a job.
"I would sooner be out in the work place doing a decent day's work than being in the mess I am in."
