US verdict on DWP’s privatised sick note service – David Hencke
Vox Political discussed the appointment of Maximus as the provider of the new ‘Health and Work Service’ – Lord Freud’s latest scheme to stop people claiming ESA by forcing them back to work before they’ve had a chance – in July.
In brief, the company masquerading as ‘Health Management Ltd’ is a front for MAXIMUS, an American company that is already a Work Programme provider here in the UK, meaning there is a clear conflict of interest as described in the previous article. Also, the scheme represents the expansion into the workplace of the bastardised biopsychosocial model of sickness assessment used by the DWP, which we already know is useless.
Now David Hencke has stepped into the fray to tell us what Maximus’ own employees think of the company that will be rolling out its ‘service’ in “Wales, the Midlands and the North before it hits the more affluent South” in the early stages of its 63-month contract.
“If you feared it was going to be a cheapskate alternative to your GP – aimed at using low paid, untrained, overworked people in call centres while maximising its profits for overpaid bosses you are right,” wrote Mr Hencke. “The customer or claimant seems the least of their concerns.”
He quotes several examples, including the following, which is particularly ironic considering the circumstances: “‘At MAXIMUS there is little to no room for advancement or growth. …This company makes unreasonable demands for staff to complete work and unreasonable deadlines. This company does not support personal time off due to family/personal issues.’ (so they won’t sympathise with you if you are sick)”
Take a look at the rest of the article of Mr Hencke’s site.
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it’s a total shoe horn that doesn’t make sense the way things stand at the moment but does make sense if TTIP is ratified.
Isn’t this the role of “human resources” etc within companies? It’ll be presented as a saving money exercise through cutting of paperwork, when in fact it’ll be those in need that will have money withdrawn because of not jumping through the required hoops (Ala ATOS and DWP sanctions stylee) which is where the money will be saved. And yep fraud will be rampant which is already the case in the US as described in the following Tom Pride article (huge list of links to examples at the bottom of his blog). Sod the fact that National insurance and company insurance is to pay for such contingencies.
there’s an article here at DPAC by Anita Bellows, with the assistance of George Berger which also comments on MAXIMUS – http://dpac.uk.net/2014/09/the-private-provider-which-not-only-denies-benefits-but-also-treatment/
also Tom Pride’s following blog post has a very sobering url link list of MAXIMUS failings towards the end of his artcile – http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/meet-maximus-the-new-atos-but-even-worse/
An example of how Maximus processes claims in the US – https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/IMR/IMR_FAQs.htm
Andy, If you’re right there is going to be big trouble when they enact it and start trying to force this down peoples throats. Just this one example means that TTIP will be over rulling: Medical Malpractice, Fraud [threats and menaces], Health and Safety Acts etc etc.
Clearly the money grasping fools who support TTIP failed to take that and more into account.
Governments could well fall due to this rubbish.
I’ve had the misfortune to have dealings with Health Management as they are employed by my employer the local council as Occupational Health, so they are paid by the taxpayer. Their aim is to bully you back to work or, in my case, resigning. When they decided I was not fit for work, they tried to shift the blame onto me for the worsening of my disability (which I declared when I applied for the job) and said I should not have applied for the job in the first place, which I only accepted under threat of sanction by the Jobcentre so its a lose-lose situation.
Wales, The Midlands and the North, eh? These scum have found new guinea pigs since they presumably can’t use the Scots for medical purposes. If London were to be used, none of these policies would ever see the light of day.
I said the Welsh would be first to get the new stuff if Scotland bowed out and here we are!
The first review (Follow the link to Glassdoor) say’s it all.
” My line manager refused to verify my work as he was too lazy. This meant that although I was exceeding my target by at least 25% each month, my figures were only showing that I was achieving between 10-50% of my target. This affected my bonus and most importantly my morale”.
TARGETS = Denial of Benefits
BONUSES = Denial of Benefits
MORAL = I’m only in it for the money, or I was only carrying out orders
Sorry to say that scum always rises to the top.