That is right. after ATOS, started overturning GP's decisions about whether people on sickness disability benefit could return to work (and causing a dozens of suicides in the process) the government, Lord Freud no less, has decided to turn this private consultancy service loose on the employed too. They will assess whether your sick note (now called "fit note") from your GP is vailed or not.
www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2...2013/dwp006-13.shtml

Good article here

johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/

Oh and apparently the companies will get a subsidy from the tax payer for the service of making you work despite what your doctor says.

I guess the people complaining about their tax money going to pay for the "skivers" (i.e. people on sickness or disability) can now rest easy knowing that their tax is now paying a private firm to force employed people like themselves to go to work when they get ill.

Take note how self employed people are exempt from all this madness.

andyh wrote:
Preach it brother!

The contract for this is indeed going to ATOS and also Capita

If you are unaware who Capita are, well this is what the government have already paid them to do (with your money)

Oh and they have been investigated a few times for dodgy financing and their boss Paul Pindar gets £900,000 a year.

cRapita

and ATOSr

I increasingly have this statement jump to the forefront of my mind when reading articles ...

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini

Dunno know why eh?

Keep pushing fuckers.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

Cry me a fucking river...bitches (and then, get back to work).

Mind you. What this really says is,

"NHS doctors can't be trusted to make a diagnosis but rather than increase standards there, we'll use public funds to pull in another private contractor to protect our private sector buddies/contributors from making losses through absenteeism by these "sick" shirkers and their co-conspirator "Doctors" .

Thing is though, illnesses such as sickness and diarrhea and bad flu's etc are all things that will just mulitply at alarming rates in the right conditions and the companys are ultimately going to feel the brunt of this as well as the people. That may be the only 'clause' that will swing this back the way.

Place I'm working for currently employ 'The Bradford Factor', which as I understand it was developed as a guide to help employers identify short term sickness and address any issues with employees from that basis.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Factor

My employer however clearly states in their handbook that once you reach a certain amount of points according to this scale, you will be up for instant dismissal. So evidently, things like this are already being mis-used.

Remind me again...just whose interests do our politicians represent?

This Bradford factor is fucking evil. I've just been given an official warning due to this. My bosses say they sympathise with the stress I've been under for the last year, but rules are rules. Wankers??

jhado wrote:
It is that mate. Sorry to hear you have it there too. I honestly believe it was never the intention of the people who developed for it to be used in such a way, but it's probably naive to think that it had any money or backing behind it in the first place if this wasn't the plan all along.

Anyway, I can see it fast becoming the norm unfortunately. There are two of us here already - HERE! Ffs...

Not that I’d want to pour salt on a wound but... how many employed people gave two hoots about the ATOS and Workfare schemes unleashed on the unemployed receiving benefits?

-
feather wrote:
Bit off topic, but to be fair GP’s are private consultants. They get paid by the NHS but they don’t work for the NHS, they are effectively private practitioners. Parasites if you ask me...

Yes, the firm I work for has just introduced that Bradford factor shite. However, they apparently don't understand it.

Even without it, I've worked for companies whose sickness policies were, imo, unfair. Such as, if you had 3 instances of sickness absence within a rolling 12 month period, you'd be on a disciplinary! Yet who can stop themselves getting sick? It's beyond your control to a great extent. You could have a perfect attendance record stretching for years, but then get a spate of illnesses - and that can happen, when one bad bout can kick your immune system in the whatsits, making you vulnerable - and you're disciplined for it.

Consequently, you get people dragging themselves into work when they're unfit, and so delaying their own recovery and spreading their germs around. And they, along with most other people, view this as a virtuous act. I think it's utter stupidity.

I cared about ATOS being inflicted on the unemployed, and especially when I learned they falsified records of their conversations with people in order to screw them over!

It is up to people to take control and responsibility.
If the contract is unfair then do not contract.

Ab Origine wrote:
I think they just did.

Psketti and Gilly make the most salient point: only an irresponsible person comes into work when they are contagious.

Moreover, the body needs rest more than anything to fight infection and to recover from illness. This has been known since ancient times. Animals know it. The body knows it.

It seems poitical and economic "realism" is coming into conflict with reality.

Guess who gets crushed in the middle.

You can listen to some discussion of ATOS and their Work Capability Assessments here:

youtube.com/watch?v=m3Kd0bjNmxo#t=54m55s

I have spoken to a number of people who have gone on atos interviews who are genuinely ill.

What seems to happen is no matter what you say or any evidence you give of your illness including taking medication as proof at the atos centre they pass you as fit for work.

What happens then is they stop paying you.

There is an appeal process which is dragged out usually 7 months at best but usually a year.When the appeal is dealt with the person might qualify for the benefit but the whole process can start all over again.

humanspirit wrote: That's a pretty accurate assessment. Their job is simply to get people off Incapacity Benefit.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
I have also been told that the interview is designed around a system where points are awarded to the ill person if they cannot do certain things and suffer disabilities and if enough points are awarded they quallify for benefit which is a life line when they feel they are drowning.

The interviewers have not been following guidlines and issuing points when people qualify for them and also lying for what i can only imagine is a bonus for themselves.