On June 12th a group of organisations based in West Sussex hosted a Care & Support Summit to explore new ways for people to get good lives.

Chaired by Dame Philippa Russell, the keynote speaker, Ralph Broad, shared approaches which puts people at the front end of service design and delivery and results in really good outcomes, which include the elephant in the room – cost savings. The asset based community development and local area co-ordination approaches offer a real alternative to a race to the bottom – this morning on Radio 4 we heard concerns about domicilary care & the dreaded 15 minute support window.

Research by Dr Farhang Tahzib showed the link between loneliness, poor health & huge costs

It’s time to do things differently. For more information on local area co-ordination see http://inclusiveneighbourhoods.co.uk/

Who’s ready for a big conversation?

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An indepth, independent study by Deloitte highlights for every £1 spent on services like support in the community, housing & communication, benefits worth an average of £1.30 are accrued to carers & local/central government.

Experts analysed 4 distinct services used by disabled people who need a lower level of care, which is often just a few hours a week.  Totalling up the costs in comparison to the benefits & savings, the returns ranged from 18% to 53%. 

Benefits to the Exchequer, local health & care commissioners at least 30%.

For the report see http://bit.ly/14Oyncm

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The on-going welfare reforms have created an atmosphere of fear and despair within the British disabled community, that includes sufferers of chronic ill health and those with mental health difficulties.

Claimants in receipt of the former Incapacity Benefit are being transferred to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) but, to retain this disability benefit, claimants are required to make themselves available for an ‘occupational assessment’, known as the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), as exclusively conducted by the private contractor Atos Origin IT Ltd Medical Services; better known as Atos Healthcare. Since 2008 successive British governments have adopted the WCA with the intention of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) removing as many claimants as possible from disability benefit, to permit the long ago planned move from the welfare state to welfare funded by private insurance.

During three years of detailed independent research, I exposed the links between the British government and the American healthcare insurance giant Unum (Provident) Insurance as first identified in the 2010 report: Atos Healthcare or Disability Denial Factories.(1) This report exposed the links between the DWP and the healthcare insurance giant, and also identified the fact that the WCA had been designed in consultation with Unum Insurance and was the realisation of the long ago planned ‘Thatcher Legacy’, which was the total destruction of the welfare state.(2) This foreign influence on British welfare reforms was to become the focus for the second year of my research that culminated in the report: Welfare Reform – Redress for the Disabled(3) as first quoted during the welfare reform debates in the House of Lords during September 2011.

Over time, this often disturbing research evidence was published across the Internet and was welcomed by various academics, a growing number of frontline national charities, medical and healthcare professionals and service-users. The interest was growing as the research exposed the fact that the DWP’s American corporate ‘adviser’ was identified as one of the most discredited health insurance giants in the world.(1)(3) By 2005, following copious numbers of successful legal cases throughout the USA, the California Department of Insurance Commissioner, John Garamendi, stated: “Unum Provident is an outlaw company. It is a company that has operated in an illegal fashion for years…”(4) By 2006, New York Attorney General Spitzer ordered Unum (Provident) Insurance to reconsider 200,000 previous claims, in a settlement benefitting 48 States, and also levied another $15 million dollar fine against the company in addition to the $multimillion dollar fines already imposed over several years via successful litigation.(1)(3)(5) In 2007, the American Association for Justice identified Unum (Provident) Insurance as “..the second worst insurance company in the US.”(6)(7) To date, the company have not carried out the 200,000 reconsiderations, ordered in the 2006 multi-state settlement, as Unum Insurance does appear to continue to be a law unto themselves. A name change to, simply, Unum Insurance has not altered this company’s long history of resisting payment to genuine health insurance claimants(8) as confirmed in a compelling CBS News interview.(9)

Yet this is the company chosen to ‘advise’ successive British governments since 1994 and this American influenced system of disability denial was adopted by the DWP, using Atos Healthcare to conduct the WCA as a guaranteed method of reducing the welfare budget, regardless of the large amount of detailed evidence against it.(1)(3)(7)(10) Indeed, in America, Professor John Langbein of the Yale School of Law produced a paper identified as ‘The Unum Provident Scandal’ that exposed Unum’s policy of disability denial that continues to be referenced to this day.(10)

Not only was the WCA exposed as being ‘unfit for purpose’ by the President of the Appeal Tribunals,(11) but also most recently by the representatives of Britain’s doctors and nurses as the WCA was identified by both the British Medical Association (BMA)(12) and the Royal College of Nurses (RCN)(13) as being totally detrimental to the welfare of patients. DWP Ministers continue to disregard all reported evidence against the Atos assessment.

For six years from 2003 Unum (Provident) Insurance funded the former DWP Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, who retired from his role at the DWP to become the Director of the ‘UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research’ at Cardiff University. During that time, Professor Aylward co-authored arguably the most damaging report in the history of British welfare as The Scientific & Conceptual Basis of Incapacity Benefits, TSO 2005(14) was, effectively, a blueprint for the introduction of the WCA.

The Green Paper: A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering people to work – 2006(15) was subsequently exposed by the academic Professor Alison Ravetz, whose detailed independent assessment identified the content of the Green Paper as leaving much to be desired.(16) It remains cause for concern that Professor Ravetz’s critical assessment of the Green Paper was provided as a contribution to the public consultation process; so the DWP accessed this disturbing evidence and then totally disregarded the significance of it.

“On closer examination, it appears that this entire body of work is largely self-referential – that is, it appeals for validation to itself and is framed within the same political and policy agenda. In practical terms, it means opting out by the state of responsibility for a large section – estimated two thirds – of those affected by illness or disability. In future, it will be harder to qualify for the benefit, while those already receiving it, in many cases over long periods will, despite assurances, have justifiable anxieties about their future benefit status… UnumProvident, an American company, is involved in a number of lawsuits for ‘bad faith’ in refusing to honour disability insurance claims. This reinforces the caution against taking this apparently impressive body of work at face value. It is not research undertaken in the spirit of open enquiry. It is commissioned research and, as such, pre-disposed towards ideologically determined outcomes.”(16)(My emphasis. MS)

This statement was written by Professor Ravetz in 2006 and it has now come to pass, with the nation’s chronically sick and disabled benefit claimants living in fear of the arrival of their appointment for the WCA, as conducted by Atos Healthcare, and the endless incorrect decisions regarding future benefit entitlement by DWP ‘Decision Makers.’(17)

The main influence of the Green Paper content was The Scientific & Conceptual Basis of Incapacity Benefits, TSO 2005(14), as authored by Professors Mansel Aylward and Gordon Waddell and published by the UnumProvident Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, Cardiff University. Research evidence has confirmed the profound influence of a discredited American corporate insurance giant with the DWP since 1994 and the most damaging reports, used to influence and inform government policy on welfare, have been produced via a research centre who have adopted the Unum philosophy and cannot possibly be considered to be ‘independent’ research evidence.

On 17th April 2013 the United Kingdom honoured Baroness Thatcher with a ceremonial funeral at an admitted cost of £3.6million, to acknowledge the nation’s first female Prime Minister, whilst her lasting legacy to the British people will be the successful destruction of the welfare state.

Mo Stewart

From The British Welfare State to Another American State © Mo Stewart 17th May 2013

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/FROM-BRITISH-WELFARE-STATE-TO-ANOTHER-AMERICAN-STATE-2013-3rd-edit-FINAL.pdf

REFERENCES:

(1) Atos Healthcare or Disability Denial Factories:

http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveteranssummary.html

(2) Margaret Thatcher’s role in plan to dismantle welfare state revealed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/28/margaret-thatcher-role-plan-to-dismantle-welfare-staterevealed

http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html#WRES

(4) Online Lawyer Source: http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/unum/complaints/

(5) State Insurance commissioners reach settlement with Unum Provident:

http://www.insure.com/articles/healthinsurance/unum-settlement.html

(6) Unum Claims Denial – Legal Help:

http://unumclaimsdenial.com/2011/07/unum-ranked-2nd-worst-insurance-company-in-america/

(7) The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America – The American Association of Justice

http://www.justice.org/docs/tenworstinsurancecompanies.pdf

(8) Unum Lawsuit Plaintiff Wins Re-instatement of Unum Disability Benefits, MARCH 2013:

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/first_unum/unum-lawsuit-insurance-disability-claims-12-

18506.html?utm_expid=3607522-0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersandsettlements.com%2Flegalnewsarticles%

2Fcase%2Ffirst_unum%2F#.UZOb0Vxwbcs

(9) Did Insurer Cheat Disabled Clients: CBS News interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gknSNvGoX-c

(10) John H Langbein – The Unum Provident Scandal & Judicial Review of Benefit Denials, Yale University School of

Law: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=917610

(11) HH Judge Robert Martin: President of Appeal Tribunals, Report 2007-08:

http://appeals-service.gov.uk/Documents/SSCSA_PresRep07_08FINAL.pdf

(12) Scrap work capability assessment, doctors demand

http://bma.org.uk/news-views-analysis/news/2012/june/scrap-work-capability-assessment-doctors-demand

(13) RCN Congress:

http://www.rcn.org.uk/newsevents/congress/2013/agenda/1-disability-assessments

(14) The Scientific & Conceptual Basis of Incapacity Benefits, TSO 2005

http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp?FO=1279028&DI=607598

(15) A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering people to work: 2006

http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm67/6730/6730.pdf

(16) Green Paper: A New Deal for Welfare: empowering people to work. 2006

- an independent assessment of the arguments for proposed Incapacity Benefit reform

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/ravetz-Green-Paper-IB-critique.pdf

(17) Unfit for Purpose: Citizens Advice Scotland: http://www.cas.org.uk/publications/unfit-purpose

BIOG:

Mo Stewart is a former healthcare professional, a disabled female veteran and, for the last 3 years, has researched thelinks between the DWP, Atos Healthcare & Unum Insurance. To date, the research evidence has been quoted duringwelfare debates in the House of Lords, the House of Commons and in Westminster Hall. Mo routinely shares allresearch evidence with academics, medical and healthcare professionals, frontline national charities, selectedpoliticians and service users.

Her most recent report has just been published by the Centre for Disability Studies at Leeds University:

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/THE%20HIDDEN%20AGENDA-a-research-summary-March-2013-

Mo’s website is: www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html#documents

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Read obituary

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The hidden agenda

a research summary by Mo Stewart

The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is exclusively conducted on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by the corporate giant Atos Origin IT Ltd Medical Services, better known as Atos Healthcare. This ‘non-medical assessment’ was introduced in 2008 by the Labour government, and was identified as a ‘medical examination’ to be used to identify genuine claimants for long term sickness and disability benefit. However, what was unknown at the time was the fact that the WCA was a continuation of the planned agenda of the previous Thatcher government, whose ultimate goal was the destruction of the Welfare State.(1)

The WCA was promoted as a ‘fitness for work’ assessment for claimants of what was once known as Incapacity Benefit, now re-named as the Employment and Support Allowance.(ESA) In reality, in order to reduce the welfare budget, the WCA was designed to resist as many sickness benefit claims as possible regardless of confirmed and identified permanent illness or disability. By 2010 the planned DWP welfare budget reduction was deemed to be too slow. The new Coalition Government enhanced the WCA and, following the previous Labour Government’s lead, it became much more difficult to qualify for the ESA(2) as the WCA totally disregarded diagnosis, prognosis or limited life expectancy.

Aided and abetted by the national press, using insidious press headlines to manipulate public opinion(3)(3b), the Coalition Government successfully introduced tyranny, fear and despair to the nation’s most vulnerable people, using a disability assessment model as designed in consultation with Unum [Provident] Insurance; one of the most discredited corporate insurance giants in the world.(4)(4b) At the same time, reported disability hate crimes in the United Kingdom(UK) were rising to record levels.(5)

The first two years of independent research into the WCA concluded at the end of November 2011 with the exposure of two government memorandums provided by Unum Provident Insurance.(6) Initially, the link between the UK welfare reforms and the likely move to an insurance based benefits system was identified by Baroness Tanni Gray-Thompson during the welfare reform debates in the House of Lords.(7) Nine months later, the link between Atos Healthcare and Unum Insurance was exposed by Kevin Brennan MP during debate in Westminster Hall(8) and, more recently, during an emergency Backbench Business debate in the House of Commons(HOC), Michael Meacher MP identified the possible influence of Unum Insurance with the UK Government.(9)

Of course, this destruction of the welfare state could never have been so readily achieved without the unelected former Labour adviser, David Freud. He was ennobled to permit appointment initially to the Shadow Cabinet but, following the 2010 General Election, he was appointed as the Minister for Welfare Reform for the Coalition where he has excelled. Indeed, one of Lord Freud’s most recent claims was that: “Poor people should be prepared to take more risks because they have the least to lose…”(11) Clearly, this man is yet another millionaire Minister who demonstrates no concern, and no comprehension, of human need.

The ongoing DWP medical tyranny, masquerading as welfare reform, has permitted Atos Healthcare to conduct the WCA by employing the totally discredited Bio-Psychosocial(BPS) model of disability assessment that remains free from all public accountability according to the General Medical Council and the Care Quality Commission. The BPS is the assessment model as used by Unum Insurance when assessing healthcare insurance claims, and it is also the assessment model enthusiastically promoted by Professor Sir Mansel Aylward. The Professor is the Director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University, initially sponsored by Unum Insurance from its inception in 2003 to 2009. However, prior to his move to the Centre, the Professor was the DWP’s Chief Medical Officer who, in 1994, was in post when Unum Insurance was invited to become corporate ‘advisers’ to the UK government.(12)

Whilst the BPS model is an interesting theory, the selective use of the BPS model of disability assessment, as used by both Unum Insurance and Atos Healthcare, was exposed long ago as an invention of the insurance industry. (13)(14) By concentrating on the psychological model of disability, to the detriment of the social model, the WCA was always destined to promote unacceptable results for many thousands of ESA claimants. In one six month period alone 37,100 people had waited up to a year to have their ESA benefit reinstated following appeal, yet no one is asking what would have happened to these genuinely sick and disabled people if they had not had the strength to peruse their claim to appeal?(10) Indeed, a recent Panorama documentary: ‘Disabled or Faking It’,(15) demonstrated quite categorically the dangers of the WCA with seriously ill patients, diagnosed with life threatening conditions such as heart failure and end stage emphysema, being found fit for work.(15)

However, with the national press still refusing to expose the identified influence of Unum Insurance with the DWP welfare reforms, the British public remain in ignorance as the government covertly convert the UK welfare state into the American healthcare system, ultimately to be funded by private insurance.(12)(13)(14) Meanwhile, Unum Insurance is happy to continue to offer new careers to former government ‘advisers’. (16)

The WCA is an American imported ‘disability assessment model’ and has no medical credibility whatsoever, as confirmed by the British Medical Association(17), yet it is enthusiastically employed by the DWP and causes devastation to those least able to protest. This ‘medical assessment’ is working very well as the thousands of genuine claimants that have either died, committed suicide, been forced into poverty due to mounting debt, or who have developed a mental health problem due to anxiety are now the disregarded victims.(10) Many had been in receipt of Incapacity Benefit before being re-assessed by Atos Healthcare, using the fatally flawed WCA, only to fail to qualify for benefit following ‘assessment’. The Internet provides evidence to this government imposed suffering at a cost to the tax-payer of £110million per annum for the confidential Atos contract and an estimated £60 million pounds per annum, and rising, for the costs of the appeal tribunals. Yet, still, Members of Parliament (MP) continue with their very courteous and diplomatic debates(8)(9) as the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and, especially, their corporate partners all celebrate the on-going planned destruction of the welfare state that appears to be unstoppable.

What is still disregarded is the fact that Professor Sir Mansel Aylward’s research activities were funded for six years by Unum Insurance.(12) Indeed, due to his significant contribution to the future reduction of the DWP welfare budget by promoting the use of a ‘non-medical’ assessment, the Professor was rewarded with a Knighthood for “services to disability assessment.” Therefore, his support for the BPS disability assessment model was presumed to be guaranteed. Yet, when confronted six months ago, the Professor actually confirmed that he now considered the BPS model to be “unsatisfactory” and that he believed it “no longer addresses the real needs of disabled people and the exclusion of disabled people from society”.(18)

Of course, the question remains as to why there was no official DWP announcement following this amazing change of ‘expert’ professional opinion, as the entire national press totally disregarded the press release that was distributed last September following Sir Mansel’s unexpected statement. Perhaps the Professor was safe in the knowledge that the press release would be ignored, and perhaps this is why he continues to travel widely, still lecturing about the virtues of the totally discredited BPS model of disability assessment? The most recent lecture was at the Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference in Birmingham, from 5th-6th March 2013,(19) where Professor Sir Mansel Aylward was listed as a keynote speaker on the subject of: The New Public Health Agenda: Its Impact on Health and Wellbeing at Work. Given the title of his speech, one can only presume that the Professor has yet to advise other professionals of his reported change of expert opinion.(18)

This is how the UK welfare state will be destroyed. There is a BPS ‘expert’ in place, and an American corporate insurance giant has influenced the UK Government to totally disregard human suffering, in favour of a reduced welfare budget, using an identified bogus ‘medical assessment’. Unum Insurance have begun their mass marketing to encourage able bodied members of the British public to invest in their ‘Income Protection Insurance’ or their ‘Back-up Plan,’ that’s only available via the workplace, and these are the healthcare insurance policies that the company has historically tried very hard to resist funding when a claim is made.(20)(21)

Given that the unacceptable practice of Unum Insurance was previously exposed by MPs during a House of Commons debate in 1999(22), the question remains as to why was this highly discredited American corporate insurance giant ever permitted to influence UK welfare reforms and why the national press, en masse, refuse to expose this insurance company’s confirmed influence despite it being identified by a BBC News report in 2007?(23) The recent exposure of a 2005 internal Unum report, that actively boasted that the company was ‘driving government thinking’ regarding the reform of Incapacity Benefit (24) leads to the much more sinister possibility that the DWP are simply administrators of these brutal welfare reforms, and that the perpetrators of the devastation caused to the victims of this UK government funded medical tyranny are, in fact, Unum Insurance. Michael O’Donnell was the author of the 2005 internal Unum report that was written when he was the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Unum Insurance. Michael O’Donnell is now the CMO for Atos Healthcare…..

The difficulty remains that no-one is asking the relevant questions. Perhaps MPs should be asking the Prime Minister why he’s been funded by ‘healthcare companies’ to the value of £750,000(27) since he became Prime Minister (25) or why every report produced by the President of the Appeal Tribunals, all of which identified the Atos Healthcare WCA assessments as “failing to coincide with reality”, was totally disregarded by the DWP? (12)

Until and unless more significant questions are asked in the House of Commons, victims of this government funded medical nightmare will be forced to turn to the law for help, just as in America.(26) Until and unless the national press demonstrate that the UK really does benefit from a free press, and not a government controlled press, the most vulnerable of all British people will continue to suffer and the British public will continue to be deceived.(12)

The Hidden Agenda © Mo Stewart – March 2013

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/THE%20HIDDEN%20AGENDA-a-research-summary-March-2013-FINAL.pdf

References:

1) Margaret Thatcher’s role in plan to dismantle welfare state revealed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/28/margaret-thatcher-role-plan-to-dismantle-welfare-state-revealed

(2) Cuts to UK benefits: http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/type/text/cuts-to-uk-benefits.html

(3) ‘Ello, John, got a new Motability motor?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2047593/Motability-schemes-starting-resemble- worst-excesses-Arthur-Daley-.html

(3b) Half a million incapacity benefit claimants are fit for work, Government’s own figures show: Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2115476/A-incapacity-benefit-claimants-fit-work-Government-s-OWN-figuresshow.

html#axzz2JqkmNFAR

(4) New York Attorney General Spitzer’s ruling:

www.insure.com/articles/healthinsurance/unum-settlement.html

(4b) The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America – The American Association of Justice

http://www.justice.org/docs/tenworstinsurancecompanies.pdf

(5) Hate crimes against disabled people soar to a record high:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-against-disabled-people-soar-to-a-record-level-7858841.html

(6) The truth behind welfare reforms: http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveteransreport20111120.html

(7) BnsTanni Gray-Thompson: House of Lords, welfare reforms

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110913-0002.htm

(8) Private Members’ Debate: Atos Healthcare: 4th Sept 2012

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120904/halltext/120904h0001.htm

(9) Backbench Business: Atos Work Capability Assessment debate: 17th Jan 2013

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130117/debtext/130117-0002.htm

(10) British people are committing suicide to escape poverty. Is this what the State wants?

http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/03/people-are-choosing-suicide-to-escape-poverty-is-this-the-states- final-solution.html

(11) Lord Freud’s welfare ‘lifestyle’ comments show ‘nasty party is back’, say Labour:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9698985/Lord-Freuds-welfare-lifestyle-comments-show-nasty-party-is-back-say-Labour.html

(12) Government use might of American insurance giant to destroy UK welfare safety net – update 27th Oct

: http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveteransreport20121027.html

(13) An academic responds to statement by Prof Aylward:

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/18/dwpatosunum-scandal-an-academic-responds-with-disbelief-to-professor-aylwardsstatement-

to-black-triangle-and-dpac-outside-the-ifdm2012-conference-on-11th-september-2012/

(14) A Tale of Two Models:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/jolly/A%20Tale%20of%20two%20Models%20Leeds1.pdf

(15) Panorama: Disabled or Faking It?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lldrc/Panorama_Disabled_or_Faking_It/

(16) Peter Dewis: Steppin’ Sideways from Government to Unum:

http://downwithallthat.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/peter-dewis-steppin-sideways-from-government-to-unum/

(17) GPs call for work capability assessment to be scrapped:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/23/gps-work-capability-assessment-scrapped

(18) Former DWP medical boss makes WCA pledge to protesters:

http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2012/09/former-dwp-medical-boss-makes-wca-pledge-to-protesters/

(19) Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference, NEC Birmingham: http://www.healthatwork2013.co.uk/

(20) “The denial on the part of Unum in the Mondolo case appears to mirror denials of other Unum disability claims historically, going back several years. To that end, the Court noted Unum’s history of biased claims administration.” (MARCH 2013)

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/first_unum/unum-lawsuit-insurance-disability-claims-12-18506.html?utm_expid=3607522-

0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersandsettlements.com%2Flegal-news-articles%2Fcase%2Ffirst_unum%2F

(21) CBS News 60 minutes: DID INSURER CHEAT DISABLED CLIENTS:

(22) Permanent Health Insurance debate, Westminster Hall, 21st December 2009

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo991221/halltext/91221h01.htm#91221h01_head0

(23) BBC Ten ‘o Clock News report: 6th Nov 2007

http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/UNUM_on_BBC_News_061107.wmv (BBC NEWS report – video)

(24) Unum bragged about ‘driving government thinking’ on incapacity benefit reform:

http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/02/unum-bragged-about-driving-government-thinking-on-incapacity-benefit-reform/

(25) MPs’ links are so unhealthy:

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/378233/MPs-links-are-so- unhealthy

(26) High Court rules Work Capability Assessment arguably unlawful:

http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2012/07/victory-in-first-stage-of-fitness-for-work-court-case/

(27) NHS reform leaves Tory backers with links to private healthcare firms set for bonanza:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nh

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What is it like to be in a position where you need support from the state? A mother tells us of her daughter’s experience.

About 2 years ago I was contacted by letter to say that 2 people were coming round to our home to inverview us regarding my daughter receiving DLA.  This turned out to be the second time in about 4 years that someone has contacted them to say that in their opinion, she should not receive benefits.

I was unaware at the time, but when 2 officials arrived, their attitude of suspicion made me immediately aware that I was being interrogated. This was followed up some weeks later by a visit from a (presumably retired) gp, who again acted as if she was claiming money under false pretences.

I will tell you that my daughter, now aged 37, contracted a rare virus at the age of 17 months which caused brain damage – I would say she has an academic age of about 4 or 5 and a social age of maybe 12 or 13.  She has always, and still does, live at home.  In the following years she has been diagnosed with severe & multiple allergies, lupus, meningitis which cause the loss of some toes & now kerataconus wich has caused virtual blindness in one eye.

Anyone speaking to her for more than about 10 seconds would realise there was something pretty seriously wrong.  However, we were treated the whole time with suspicion – this culminated in a final question from the doctor as to whether I had anything else to add.  I commented how it was not easy to bring up a daughter alone as a one parent working mother, for most of her life with problems physically & mentally such as hers.  Her reply was – “I meant medically”.

My daughter was made to sit with us the whole time at both interviews.

Having spent years encouraging her & telling her how clever she was when she achieved something small, this was ruined by 2 visits during which I had to tell them all the things she can’t do.

Amongst the illnesses she has, brain damage is irreversible, lupus is incurable, allergies cause problems on a daily basis, she will never grow new toes & the keracatonus will, sometime, affect her other eye too.

I can understand that these officers & the gp must see lots of people who do try to claim benefits falsely but their attitude caused both of us to be in tears after they had left.  It then took 3 months for them to reach the decision that she is entitled to the benefits she gets.

The following year, she was subject to another assessment, another 2 hour stint, because of local authority cuts to see whether she qualified to keep the 2 days she attends at a local creative arts workshop.  She does.

Now we’ve heard that DLA is changing to PIP so another assessment will take place.  Apart from costing the Government a fortune, this continual fear & uncertainty has given me, amongst other things, high blood pressure.  In my opinion, they’ve targeted the very section of society who are the most vulnerable & are unable to speak up for themselves. When you have it on record the problems that my daughter has, I cannot understand what you gain by these reassessments.

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Following the judges decision that the present Work Capability Assessment substantially disadvantages people who have mental health problems, autism and learning disabilities I have started a petition at 38 degrees.org calling upon the Department of Work and Pensions  to scrap the assessment until it has been revised and made fit for purpose. The petition can be found at http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/scrap-the-unjust-work-capability-assessment .

I am the father of a son with autism who has gone through the WCA process and know how, flawed, unfair and unjust the process is.

Any publicity you can give to this petition would be much appreciated.

Kind regards.

Brian J Kitchen

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD THROUGH YOUR NETWORKS

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Sadly Carl Poll died on 23rd May 2013. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Carl’s life was a life spent relentlessly in the pursuit of human rights and social justice. After a lifetime of activism one of his final achievements was his input into the Campaign for a Fair Society. Carl was part of a small group of activists who planned and launched the CfaFS in 2010. Carl went on to contribute to the production of the Campaign’s Manifesto and managed the Campaign’s website and newsletter for two years, only relinquishing these responsibilities a few months ago. On behalf of colleagues at the CfaFS I pay tribute to Carl’s contribution, lifetime of activism and commitment right to the very end.

More tributes to Carl Poll can be read here  http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-date/in-memory-of-carl.html on the Centre for Welfare Reform website.

 Sue Livett, Chair, English Steering Group

Campaign for a Fair Society

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Showing support for social care. See http://www.britaincares.co.uk/

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As we start to hear about the huge surge in applications for discretionary housing payments here is a real person who is being affected by the bedroom tax. It’s hard to believe this is happening:

Rosemary Burslem, David’s mother tells us David’s story.

David is 30 years old. He is a great character with a wicked sense of humour. He is autistic & has a severe learning disability as well as some behaviours which are described as “challenging”.  When things went “pear shaped” with is direct payment package he had to leave his home and come back to live with us for 2 years.  During that time we began to make plans with him to move out again to another home of his own. David’s Social Worker said he would have to share his home with another person with a learning disability, to keep his support costs down. It was agreed she would find possible housemates for David & that he would be introduced to them to see if any were compatible.  However, although a few names were mentioned, no-one was found.

Social Services recommended that we buy in a service for David from a provider. So we had to conduct a full blown tender exercise just like Social Services do. Finally we selected a provider. Social Services were supposed to contract with us & we were then supposed to form a contract with the selected provider. so that we would still be in control of David’s support, even though he wasn’t getting a direct payment. However, Social Services never produced our contract. In the end we gave up & allowed Social Services to contract directly with the provider as things seemed to be working out quite well. The provider gave us plenty of opportunity to be involved in making sure they delivered a person centred service for David.

Once the provider was chosen I contacted Phil, who was the first person we employed when using direct payments, to ask if he would like to work with David again. To our delight he said he would, and so he applied to the provider to work with David and has been with him ever since. He is now the team leader.  All the current team members have been with David between 6 & 8 years! They are brilliant! They really care about David & their support is excellent.

Although no housemate had been found for David, Social Services said he should have a 3 bedroom house, so that when they found someone to share with him s/he could move in with him. The 3rd bedroom is for the personal support assistants to sleep in.

An ideal house

We searched until we found the ideal house for David, not far from our home. One of the problems at his first house was that it was a mid terrace & not at all sound-proof, so, understandably, the neighbours complained when David had a “megatantrum” & screamed & slammed doors. Also it was in a very narrow cul de sac so the parking was restricted. The current house is semi detached with the kitchen, bathroom & David’s bedroom on the outside wall & the stairs run up the middle. Also, you can drive up the back lane into the garden where there is room to park 2 cars on the drive. The garden has high walls & a high double gate, so if David decides he doesn’t want to come into the house when he returns from an activity he is safe in the garden and his personal support assistants can keep an eye on him. Another bonus is that the back garden is big enough to accommodate a trampoline & a swing – both valuable therapeutic activities for David. At the front of the house there is room to park 1 car & opposite there is a layby where several cars can be parked. So, during almost 8 years that David has lived at this house there has not been 1 complaint from the neighbours about noise or parking.

Social Services agreed this house would be suitable for 2 people with a learning disability to share & a housing association agreed to buy it. David moved in June 2005.  What I didn’t realise at the time was that the house was set up as normal social housing, when really it should have been set up as supported housing if 2 people were going to live in it.  As far as I understand it, Supported Housing means that people share some areas of a house, and that equipment for, or mantenance of the shared areas is provided as a service.  Some of these service costs are covered by housing benefit.

When I pointed out housing benefit paid for all of David’s rent the social worker stopped talking about having to “fill the void”

During the 1st year we kept the 3rd bedroom locked so that David would not think it was his.  However, Social Services still did not find anyone to share with David. Normally, if there is a spare room in a supported house social services have to pay the cost of the rent for that room.  Presumably, the new social worker didn’t realise either that it was social housing, not supported housing.  However, the house is in a “deprived area” so the rent is low.  When I pointed out housing benefit paid for all of David’s rent the social worker stopped talking about having to “fill the void”.

So we decided to turn the spare bedroom into an activity room for him. It has in it his exercise bike, his keyboard & electric drum kit & all kinds of games & activities. There is a table which he uses for some of the activities. He also uses this table to sit at for meals if he decides he will not come downstairs and engage in his home & community acvitivies – which is described as “non-compliance”.  If he is non-compliant his support workers encourage him to eat his meals in the activity room and engage in activities in there, otherwise he would just lie in his bed all day! So he uses the room for planned activities such as music making sessions or craft, as well as at times when he is “on strike” as we call it!

Over the years David’s team & other professionals supporting him have voiced the opinion that, in fact, although he has a “spare” bedroom his house is not big enough to accommodate 2 people with a severe learning disability & their support teams.

David has really settled in this house.  He gets on well with his neighbours & has become part of the community.  He has another “challenging behaviour” which is described as “behavioural outbursts” but which we call “megatantrums”. These episodes are like the “Terrible Twos” except they are the “Terrible Thirties”! This behaviour has greatly diminished and we feel this is due to the stability he has had for the last few years. Now all of this is under threat due to the “Cuts”!

As David is unable to work he is on housing benefit which pays his rent.  Under the new housing benefit rules you have to pay 14% of your rent if you have a spare bedroom. (People in supported living are exempt from the “bedroom tax” so if David’s house had been set up properly he would not have to pay it).  So David now has to pay £13.58 per week for his Activity Room. (The staff sleep in room is exempt). David’s only income is from benefits, so having to pay this means his income is only just more than his expenditure.  I appealed to the local housing benefit office against their decision, explaining it wasn’t David’s fault that he has a spare room – it is Social Services fault. However, as I expected, the appeal was turned down. I applied for Discretionary Housing Payments for David.  This was turned down too. The judgement said:

“After the additional rent of £13.58 has been paid, his income exceeds his expenditure by £0.16. There may be scope to reduce the expenditure if required.”

Now – here’s something that is even more worrying than the Bedroom Tax.  Wrexham Social Services have a policy of not fundng “single service user projects” & have now said that David must share his sleep in support with another person with a learning disability to cut costs.  (To be fair, they said that 10 years ago but they didn’t find anyone else to share). So, they now say they would like him to live in one of their supported houses where he would have to share a kitchen and garden and sleep in support. There are a limited number of these houses & vacancies do not occur very often. They have shown us their only vacant property but we do not feel it would meet David’s needs. The main reason for this was there was no vehicular access at the back, there are open plan gardens at the front and there is a main road only a few hundred yards away. They said they would enquire about making an enclosed safe area at the front but I doubt this could be done satisfactorily. It was a normal semi with a small extension and David would have to live either on the ground floor or upstairs. There were several things that would need improving within the house too. Finally, it was in a village outside of Wrexham, but we know that David would prefer us to live within walking disance of him so that we can visit him easily and reduce fuel costs.

We also think it would be difficult, if not impossible, for David to share a kitchen.  He has a lot of very obsessive behaviour.  One of these behaviours is that he takes food (including perishable food from the fridge), cutlery and utensils out of the kitchen and puts them over his bedroom floor! So you would need double storage space and 2 fridges so that the second person’s food etc could be locked away!

On top of that he does all sorts of other things obsessively, such as taking banana skins out of the compost bins & putting them back with the bananas, putting dirty cups into the cupboard and balancing them precariously near the edge so that when you open the door they all fall out, and switching electrical equipment off when you are in the middle of using it! Much as we love him, these behaviours used to drive us dotty when he was living with us, so how could you expect another person with a learning disability to tolerate them?

David also finds it stressful to be with other people (or animals) whose behaviour can be unpredictable.  This includes small children & people with learning disabilities. He was not happy at school, as he was afraid of some of his class mates & the educational psychologist recommended that he change school because of this.  He was a little more relaxed at the next school, but was still very aware of some of the other students. (I am sure some of the students found David’s behaviours difficult too!). He also finds it difficult to cope with people who are very “in yer face” and invade his personal space.

Since leaving school any attempts to get him to attend college courses or share activities with people with learning disabilities have failed. He always gets very anxious and it is clear he is not enjoying himself. So, unless someone was found who David really did get on with, and could also cope with David, you would need to timetable 6 kitchen “slots” each day so that each resident could prepare their meals without the other being in the kitchen! So far, social services have not yet identified any people for David to possibly share with.

The other problem is finding a property if there is nothing available in the current supported housing stock.  Local housing associations are not buying properties or doing any major work because they can no longer get social housing grants from the Welsh Government.  We have put David on the housing waiting list but it seems very unlikely that anywhere will be found.

Even if a suitable smaller property is found so that David does not have to pay the bedroom tax, the rent will amost certainly be higher than his current rent, so housing benefit will have to pay out more! At the moment his current full rent is £97 a week. The rent for the house we looked for was about £30 more than this!

If he remains on his own how will David pay for 3.5 sleep ins a week? This would be about £9000 a year at the provider’s rates! At the moment the Independent Living Fund pays for David’s sleep ins, so they will continue to pay for this until the fund closes at the end of March 2015.

We are currently exploring all the options.  If any readers have any ideas I would love to hear from you!  Please write to me at pedroburslem@talktalk.net.

I have requested a Best Interests meeting so that we can discuss the options & hopefully decide what would be in David’s best interests and how this might be achieved.  I have also requested a review of David’s Unified Assessment. This was due at the end of February but he has not yet been allocated a social worker.  I am awaiting details for both of these.

I appreciate that a family of 2 adults and up to 4 small children could live in David’s 3 bedroom house. I also understand that nobody yet knows how the alternative ILF funding will be administered in Wales and that social services are going to have other budget cuts, so they do need to save money.

However, David and people like him must have their needs met.  For someone like David, who has complex needs, making the wrong move could escalate his challenging behaviours and he would then need more resources to meet his needs!

Rosemary G Burslem

There is a link to David’s situation on the Stories part of the Campaign’s website when his MP raised the matter in Parliament.

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