Mike Craig ☭ At the beginning of this month I received a 'work capability assessment' form to fill in, even though I had reached state pension age.

I have returned this form and attached the following letter:

Medical’ Support Services, Belfast April 2022

One of the most stressful things that sick and disabled people in the UK can experience is the arrival of the so called ‘work capability assessment’ form. This ‘assessment and the whole process of which it is a core element has caused me no small amount of suffering over the past few years, on top of that caused by my long-term illness.

Anyone who hasn’t been through this process would wonder what all the fuss is about - surely if a claimant is ill or disabled the assessment will determine how their capability for work will be affected by this and they will be given financial support, but anyone who has experienced this process will know that this isn’t the case. In fact no effort or cost will be spared in order to deny financial support to claimants, and this assessment is part of that goal.
 
Of course, I don’t expect you to take my word for this, so I include some evidence.

Before the introduction of the new assessment regime, implemented as part of ‘Welfare Reform Bill’ introduced by the Tories back in 2010, claimants underwent a medical assessment carried out by local medical staff who had expertise in the illness or disability being presented by the claimant. This was not infallible but at least it was based on an honest attempt to determine how the claimant’s disability affected their ability to make a living through work.

In the last year (2010 to 2011) of the old medical assessment in the UK, 300 claimants died within 6 weeks of being denied benefit because they were found to be capable for work. In the first 11 months of the new assessment (2011 -2012) a staggering 11,600 claimants died within 6 weeks of being denied benefit after being found capable for work. 

This information was obtained as part of an FOI request by disability campaigners. Subsequent requests have been denied on the grounds that this was ‘a vexatious request’. So we can only estimate the death toll caused by this process. Campaigners have claimed that the number of deaths could now have reached 160,000.

The ‘work capability assessment’ is completely bogus and is based on pseudoscience. The premise of this process is that all claimants are liars and are work-shy, so we need a system which will catch them out.

While the Tories were in opposition from 1997 until 2010 they weren’t idle. Their welfare guru Iain Duncan Smith met with insurance policy designers in the USA and commissioned them to design a ‘welfare’ system for the UK which would weed out the slackers. This new system would be similar to one used by the US insurance giant Unum.

Unum received negative attention in 2002 when California regulators fined Unum and alleged that the company inappropriately denied long-term disability insurance claims.

The company was involved with the UK's controversial Welfare Reform Bill and was investigated by the BBC in England at that time.
 
The descriptors used in the assessments carried out by Unum, which were then used in the UK’s work capability assessment, were found by US courts to be based on pseudoscience and deception.

There have been many cases where claimants have been sent this assessment form while they have been on their deathbed in hospital. In my case, I received the form on the day before my 66th birthday, i.e. when I was about to become a pensioner. And as we all know, pensioners are no longer entitled to working age benefits. Neither do they have to submit to work capability tests in order to receive their state pension.

I could have returned this form to you and told you where to stick it, but instead I decided to use this as an opportunity to enlighten you as to the consequences of this process.

Michael Craig.


⏩ Mike Craig was born in Belfast to atheist parents in the 1950s. Now living near Moneymore, Co. Derry, he is a member of Left Horizons, the UK Labour Party, and Unite The Union, and is an advocate of Universal Basic Income. He is a retired electronics technician, has 11 Grandchildren and 4 Great Grandchildren.

Death By Welfare Reform

Mike Craig ☭ At the beginning of this month I received a 'work capability assessment' form to fill in, even though I had reached state pension age.

I have returned this form and attached the following letter:

Medical’ Support Services, Belfast April 2022

One of the most stressful things that sick and disabled people in the UK can experience is the arrival of the so called ‘work capability assessment’ form. This ‘assessment and the whole process of which it is a core element has caused me no small amount of suffering over the past few years, on top of that caused by my long-term illness.

Anyone who hasn’t been through this process would wonder what all the fuss is about - surely if a claimant is ill or disabled the assessment will determine how their capability for work will be affected by this and they will be given financial support, but anyone who has experienced this process will know that this isn’t the case. In fact no effort or cost will be spared in order to deny financial support to claimants, and this assessment is part of that goal.
 
Of course, I don’t expect you to take my word for this, so I include some evidence.

Before the introduction of the new assessment regime, implemented as part of ‘Welfare Reform Bill’ introduced by the Tories back in 2010, claimants underwent a medical assessment carried out by local medical staff who had expertise in the illness or disability being presented by the claimant. This was not infallible but at least it was based on an honest attempt to determine how the claimant’s disability affected their ability to make a living through work.

In the last year (2010 to 2011) of the old medical assessment in the UK, 300 claimants died within 6 weeks of being denied benefit because they were found to be capable for work. In the first 11 months of the new assessment (2011 -2012) a staggering 11,600 claimants died within 6 weeks of being denied benefit after being found capable for work. 

This information was obtained as part of an FOI request by disability campaigners. Subsequent requests have been denied on the grounds that this was ‘a vexatious request’. So we can only estimate the death toll caused by this process. Campaigners have claimed that the number of deaths could now have reached 160,000.

The ‘work capability assessment’ is completely bogus and is based on pseudoscience. The premise of this process is that all claimants are liars and are work-shy, so we need a system which will catch them out.

While the Tories were in opposition from 1997 until 2010 they weren’t idle. Their welfare guru Iain Duncan Smith met with insurance policy designers in the USA and commissioned them to design a ‘welfare’ system for the UK which would weed out the slackers. This new system would be similar to one used by the US insurance giant Unum.

Unum received negative attention in 2002 when California regulators fined Unum and alleged that the company inappropriately denied long-term disability insurance claims.

The company was involved with the UK's controversial Welfare Reform Bill and was investigated by the BBC in England at that time.
 
The descriptors used in the assessments carried out by Unum, which were then used in the UK’s work capability assessment, were found by US courts to be based on pseudoscience and deception.

There have been many cases where claimants have been sent this assessment form while they have been on their deathbed in hospital. In my case, I received the form on the day before my 66th birthday, i.e. when I was about to become a pensioner. And as we all know, pensioners are no longer entitled to working age benefits. Neither do they have to submit to work capability tests in order to receive their state pension.

I could have returned this form to you and told you where to stick it, but instead I decided to use this as an opportunity to enlighten you as to the consequences of this process.

Michael Craig.


⏩ Mike Craig was born in Belfast to atheist parents in the 1950s. Now living near Moneymore, Co. Derry, he is a member of Left Horizons, the UK Labour Party, and Unite The Union, and is an advocate of Universal Basic Income. He is a retired electronics technician, has 11 Grandchildren and 4 Great Grandchildren.

4 comments:

  1. Great piece - cuts to the chase. When I think of the Right Honourable Member For Wank, Neil Parish, watching porn in parliament when he should be seeking to enhance society, I can see the haughty Bullingdon Club mentality at play.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No problems find money for War or tax breaks for their millionaire mates but if you're disabled you can die for all the Tories care.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anthony,
    I've never encountered a Tory who enhanced society, as according to them there is no such thing as society.

    Steve,
    Dying is exactly what they want the sick and disabled to do.

    Since I posted this letter on my FB page a couple of days ago, it has been shared more than 200 times and many campaigners have commented on it and pointed out that the death toll is much higher than I had stated. According to one, between 2010 and 2014 as a result of this process 97,000 have died.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike - I can easily understand people believing different things from what I believe on the economy. What I find galling is the utter disdain creeps like IDS have for the poor.

      Delete