So now we know...

What we've suspected all along is that ATOS employ artificial targets aimed at shifting people of benefits into the workforce, and this at a time of high unemployment (though the most recently figures showed a decline in the jobless, the figure is still higher than when the ConDem goct came to power).

The Guardian have reported on a secret film made of ATOS training:

Atos assessors told to keep disability benefit approvals low, film suggests

GP applied for job with Atos assessing whether benefit applicants were fit for work, and secretly filmed his training.

"Undercover filming shows Bick being told by his trainer that he will be watched carefully over the number of applicants he found eligible for the highest rate of disability payments."

The article also says:

"Large numbers of people found ineligible for the benefit are appealing against the decision to find them fit for work; about 41% of those refused support go to tribunal and 30% are subsequently granted the benefit. There have been more than 600,000 appeals since the WCA started, costing about £60m a year."       

Of course ATOS continue to deny that they set targets.

The film was shown on Channel 4 8pm Monday 30th July. It can be seen on Channel 4OD online.

Coming Out

The politics of mental healthLast month, four MPs bravely told the world about their own mental health issues in an effort to reduce the stigma. They talk about what happened next - Guardian.

The article mentions this website:  Time to Change. Thousands of people talking about their mental health problems.

Meanwhile 

Million jobless may face six months' unpaid work or have benefits stopped.
Community action programme to tackle long-term unemployment could prove expensive failure, says thinktank - Guardian.

WCA

I had my Work Capacity Assessment yesterday.

I was interviewed by a nurse rather than a doctor. The nurse did not perform any of the standard tests I have come to associate with my conditions -- fibromyalgia or anxiety/depression. He seemed to take my diagnosis as read, but was solely concerned with my ability to work despite the diagnosis.

But then as a nurse he could not really make that assessment and his job was simply to run me through a questionnaire so that other faceless bureaucrats could make a decision well removed from me. I have no right to face my accuser or to have a day in court over this. To the people making the decision I'm not even a person, just a file. And they have no idea of the consequences of their actions.

He was all business, appeared quite friendly, but not particularly sympathetic. At one point I burst into tears and it took me a while to get myself back under control. He pushed a box of tissues across to me. I tried to convey what my life is like when things are bad. He seemed to take me at my word on this which was one thing. But then I did not see what he was typing on his computer.

It was a grueling experience that I have no wish to repeat.

The one thing that has become all too clear is that being at the mercy of these cunts is not something I think I can tolerate long term. I'm going to have to find a way out of the health trap. I'm wondering about going back to school, but I'm not interested in practical subjects. If I could I'd like to study economics and public policy for instance. I've become quite concerned about how the government is trashing things. But where's that going in employment terms?

In any case I have to wait a few weeks now. I'm dreading being forced into job seeking. I wish I could have found a way out for myself before now. Losing the Income Support I've been getting and dropping down to the level of basic ESA is not going to be easy. It's about £25 a week less. At present I have about £50 of disposable income -- from which comes clothes, shoes, and any extras. I confess to spending most of it on trivial stuff, but it includes books.

At 47 and not having worked for five years now, who is going to offer me employment? Or will I be forced into one of these workfare benefit slavery deals? The chances are I'm going to fall apart under pressure and that's all going to be distressing for me, any employer and the people I work for.