Cable Forum - View Single Post - Unemployed could be forced to do compulsory manual labour

Chrysalis · 09-11-2010, 19:48

no people are not saying 'all' assessors are bent.

There is multiple problems with the asessments that I am aware off, the ones I know off hand right now are.

(a) atos origin is a private company that needs to make profit, they get paid more money if they deem more people fit for work than if they deem more unable to work.
(b) in hand written assessments it is not unknown for the assessor to change what they have written after the claimant has signed it off.
(c) in computer assessments (lima) it is designed to push towards the "fit for work" result, the doctor asks questions to the claimant given by the computer which can be completely irrelevant to the illness. luckily the doctor can overide the computer result, in these assessments the claimant doesnt sign it off, they dont see what happened until the result. assumptions are commonly made, eg. if the claimant says they can sometimes use a bus to travel, an assumption will be made they can do that at anytime.
(d) on the new assessment certian symptons of illnesses no longer score points, things like been unable to walk up and down stairs are now deemed as not an important thing to assess. simple moving the goal posts to save money. again luckily doctors can overule the computer. eg. if the doctor decides that ruling the claimant fit for work would be detrimental to their health they can deem them as unfit for work, this is rare tho probably due to (a).

personally I think the assessments are nowhere near thorough enough, some people can be in and out in 5 minutes. it is also all done in only 1 visit only. Not to mention we now have nurses and non medical staff doing some assessments.

in terms of how do you assess yourself? Well if you cant even do normal daily activities that would be the first sign, obviously also if your illness lost you your previous job thats another sign. A lady who has been blogging on youtube about this did an interview on a radio station and that excursion out for her has messed her up for days after it, the energy used for it completely drained her. I think what people really mean about assessing themselves is on the basic details, eg. someone knows if they can stand up and sit down etc. so if you know you cannot sit down without severe discomfort and then read on your report that "claimant has no problem sitting down" then you are obviously going to be angry.

09-11-2010, 19:48	#178
Chrysalis cf.mega poster Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 12,050	Re: Unemployed could be forced to do compulsory manual labour no people are not saying 'all' assessors are bent. There is multiple problems with the asessments that I am aware off, the ones I know off hand right now are. (a) atos origin is a private company that needs to make profit, they get paid more money if they deem more people fit for work than if they deem more unable to work. (b) in hand written assessments it is not unknown for the assessor to change what they have written after the claimant has signed it off. (c) in computer assessments (lima) it is designed to push towards the "fit for work" result, the doctor asks questions to the claimant given by the computer which can be completely irrelevant to the illness. luckily the doctor can overide the computer result, in these assessments the claimant doesnt sign it off, they dont see what happened until the result. assumptions are commonly made, eg. if the claimant says they can sometimes use a bus to travel, an assumption will be made they can do that at anytime. (d) on the new assessment certian symptons of illnesses no longer score points, things like been unable to walk up and down stairs are now deemed as not an important thing to assess. simple moving the goal posts to save money. again luckily doctors can overule the computer. eg. if the doctor decides that ruling the claimant fit for work would be detrimental to their health they can deem them as unfit for work, this is rare tho probably due to (a). personally I think the assessments are nowhere near thorough enough, some people can be in and out in 5 minutes. it is also all done in only 1 visit only. Not to mention we now have nurses and non medical staff doing some assessments. in terms of how do you assess yourself? Well if you cant even do normal daily activities that would be the first sign, obviously also if your illness lost you your previous job thats another sign. A lady who has been blogging on youtube about this did an interview on a radio station and that excursion out for her has messed her up for days after it, the energy used for it completely drained her. I think what people really mean about assessing themselves is on the basic details, eg. someone knows if they can stand up and sit down etc. so if you know you cannot sit down without severe discomfort and then read on your report that "claimant has no problem sitting down" then you are obviously going to be angry.