Another victim of ATOS

There was a report, I think on the radio 4 programme You and Yours about a man who committed suicide after he was told he was fit to work. He was in his 50s, registered blind, suffered from depression. His incapacity benefit was stopped and he didn't have the knowledge or energy to appeal. His sister found him hanged. She said the fridge and larder were totally empty and he had lost a lot of weight and had obviously been not eating for some time. She thought he would have been ashamed to appeal because it would have seemed like begging. The programme said there were 60 deaths that could be attributed to ATOS benefit removal decisions.
Just awful, people die because the state removes their means of support and meanwhile the government says it isn't right for the EU to want to cap bankers' bonuses. I don't know how those in power live with themselves.

Words fail me. and

Please don't misunderstand me. I am NOT pro ATOS.
However she had been found unfit for work but fit for work related activities?
We don't know what those are?
The DWP have been asked to explain what they are.:- no answer.

It is desperately difficult to help someone who is deeply depressed. When I was helping older people with benefit claims I visited a lady with a son in his 40s living at home and extremely depressed. They were both living on her pension.

All his benefits had been stopped because he refused to respond to any letters from DWP, would not go for any assessments, essentially would not leave the house. He would not have any contact with his GP or seek any medical assistance because of an unspecified bad experience.

For the first year I was visiting his mother I never even saw him. He was just a presence in the kitchen listening to my discussions with his mother in the living room. After about a year I was able to talk to him and gain some of his confidence by getting him carer's allowance but attempts to help him gain other benefits failed because of his refusal to engage with anyone outside the house or attend any assessments.

I contacted several local mental health charities but they wanted him to visit them and wouldn't visit him at home, even if I was willing to be present.

In the end, with his mother no longer needing my assistance, I had to withdraw, but 6 years on I still wonder/worry what will/has happened to him when his mother dies.

Item on this morning's Today programme about the problems with mental health care, people who needed to be hospitalized committing suicide because they had to wait as there were no places. General report about the ways in which mental health care has deteriorated and is at its lowest ever level.
Another example of the way the NHS is suffering and the answer is not privatization!!

The way ATOS works seems to deliberately rule against understanding mental health problems. The man in the programme I mentioned could get himself dressed and could get up from the table and hold a pen, questions that were used by ATOS according to his sister, but that didn't mean he was able to go out, get a job, and work!
Similarly, I know someone who is paraplegic, he was disabled in a rugby accident aged 15. He can just about use a computer with disability enabled hardware and he does do some work from home. However, ATOS stopped his benefits and in his assessment he was told things like 15 minutes was too long for doing a poo! He is bright, poor chap, and he appealed and was successful but not everyone can do that and they have to wait long periods before the appeal is heard.

And they do not get as much money while they are waiting for their appeal to be heard.

What does "fit for work-related activities" mean?

It means you have to sign on and they send you on 'useful' training courses cos if you're training you're not technically unemployed.

The difference in money is huge. I get £108 a week ESA because I'm in the 'too ill to work group'. If they put me into the 'fit for work activities' group I'd get £6.72 a week.

So you can see why it's cost effective for the government to pay a company to say we can work.

£67.20, Vampirequeen? I knew it was low, but not that low, surely.

How realistic is this, vampire?

games.usvsth3m.com/iain-duncan-smiths-realistic-unemployment-simulator/

Not £67.20. The letter I got today said it would be £6.72 because I have small private pension that pays £300 a month and if you're in the 'fit for work' group your income is means tested.

That game is wonderful and it's so realistic. A friend has just got a new job but it's a zero hours contract and she has to do two weeks unpaid training. She's supposed to sign on at 1pm Monday but she'll be on the course and if she misses any part of it she loses the job. Job Centre said they would change her appointment to midday so that she could sign on in her lunch hour but they don't break for lunch until 12.30pm and it's only for half an hour. Then they said she could sign on at 12.45pm. The job centre is about a 15 minute drive from the training centre depending on the traffic. So assuming she doesn't hit slow traffic and can find somewhere to park she won't get out of the car before 12.45pm. Unfortunately that means she won't be there when they call her name so they'll mark her as absent. If by any chance they take pity on her and let her sign on they will expect her to wait and chat with them. If she's lucky that will take about 10 minutes. So say she's back in her car by 12.55 pm she now only had 5 mins to do a car journey that takes 15 minutes, park up and get back into the training centre. If she's late back it's classed as missing part of the course and she loses the job. If she doesn't sign on they won't pay her any benefits for the weeks she's in unpaid training.

That's awful, vampire. Both posts, I mean.
How come some people still think this is acceptable?
I feel like strangling IDS myself, and I am not violent in any way.
That needs to be put on the fitforwork website on the citizens advice blog, and on the False Economy blog, as they want as much ammunition as possible to get changes in the DWP system.

www.whobenefits.org.uk/page/content/front

They want your stories, too, from anyone who has been on benefits.