Action against new Work Capability Assessment firm is planned before it even starts
The leaflet advertising the anti-Maximus ‘Mass Action’ day.
What’s the most notable fact about the government’s new Work Capability Assessment contractor – Maximus?
Is it the claim that the company will carry out no less than one million work capability assessments in its first year? No.
Is it the fact that the company has a history of ending lawsuits against it in the USA by making out-of-court settlements costing millions of dollars, with the most notable plaintiffs being the US government in a case involving falsified Medicaid claims, and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a case involving disability discrimination? No.
Is it the fact that citizens of the United Kingdom have already organised a day of action calling for the company to be sacked, before it has even started work? Could be!
Maximus has been hired by the Coalition Government after ending the contract with Atos due to “significant quality failures”. The contract is worth no less than £595 million over three years – nearly £200 million per year. No doubt public sector employees could have provided the service cheaply and more efficiently but right-wing ministers like the Tories always prefer contracting-out; it means they have someone to blame when things go wrong.
The firm is promising to clear a backlog of around 600,000 claims for Employment and Support Allowance. In the light of the Medicaid debacle in America, one is forced to question whether another falsification case is looming on the horizon.
Ah, but Maximus says it is hiring hundreds of “healthcare professionals” to deal with the heavy workload. This does not inspire confidence as anyone who has had dealings with the Atos version of this job description will be aware that very few of them had backgrounds in healthcare or behaved in a professional way.
Take note: Maximus is not taking on any additional doctors. This means the percentage of doctors involved in the process will decline against that of “healthcare professionals”.
According to the BBC, “Atos was appointed by the Labour government in 2008 to carry out assessments, but was dogged by controversy as the number of people wrongly assessed as fit for work grew.” In fairness it should be pointed out that the number of mistakes grew exponentially after the Coalition Government’s Iain Duncan Smith introduced stricter standards around 2011.
“At the same time, increasing numbers won their appeals at tribunal.
“Some people who had been told they were fit for work and should find a job later died.” Nobody knows how many, because the Department for Work and Pensions does not monitor what happens to people after they have been thrown off-benefit. The death toll could number thousands.
Meanwhile, we know that 10,600 people who were granted the benefit died between January and November 2011 – more than 200 per week.
The DWP has jealously guarded all death statistics since then – now nearly four years ago. It is believed this is because the total would cause public outrage on a level not yet seen.
This image shows the general public feeling towards Maximus.
It is therefore unsurprising that disability organisations have organised a day of action against Maximus, which they see as just another ‘front’ company supporting government policies that have not only failed, but have done so in the most prejudicial way possible – risking people’s lives.
The day of ‘Mass Action’ has been organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), New Approach, Black Triangle and the Mental Health Resistance Network.
It will take place at Maximus’ headquarters – Level 1, Queen Anne’s Gate, London, starting at 1pm on Monday (March 2).
If you have any doubts at all about the government’s motives in employing Maximus, or the company’s ability to assess people’s illnesses and disabilities in a reliable way, then you are invited to attend.
In addition – of course – please spread the word.
Further information is on DPAC’s website: http://www.dpac.uk.net
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Only a claimant’s doctor is capable of making such an assessment for invalid capability. It would be more cost effective and accurate whereas you and your band are not Mr. Smith.
I agree completely, although I’d amend it to a claimant’s doctors – plural.
Lets be brutally honest about this it isn’t about assessing a persons capability to work. Its about reducing the number of people claiming benefits. Idiot Duncan Smith has no compassion for those who are unable to work all he wants to do is reduce the benefits bill for his paymasters.
It appears that a thoroughly dishonest, corrupt and unscrupulous company is being hired by a thoroughly dishonest, corrupt and unscrupulous government.
Did I read it right that Sue Marsh is doing something with them?
Yes, you read it right. Sue Marsh is doing something with them.
I just hope then that she does not get stung twice, remember the article on RTU?
Sue works for Maximus on a salary of £75,000 per annum. Her blogging and campaigning eventually paid off for her in a big way! Nice one, Sue. You go girl!
Can somebody have a quiet work with Sue Marsh ASAP?
i guess Dunkey was lying again:
All over this country, people who have worked hard, saved hard and bought their own homes find that they might as well not have bothered. If they need long-term care the state seizes their homes and their life savings without offering them any alternative.
This has got to stop. We need to give people a helping hand. That’s why we will find a way of enabling people to insure against the loss of their homes and savings if they have to go into care. And while we are at it, we are going to abolish that ridiculous annuity rule. We will offer security to the generation who built and defended this country we live in today. They deserve more than our gratitude, they deserve their dignity.
Read it all and have a good laugh, the usual Tory lies about looking after the working Man, until they get into Office.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/oct/10/conservatives2002.conservatives2?redirection=guardian
Of course he was lying again.
For clarity, the second and third paragraphs of John’s comment are from the 2002 Iain Duncan Smith speech quoted in full in the Guardian article in the link.
Well done for digging that out!
Unlike the ATOS contract where the coalition was happy to lay the blame at the Labour Party despite the coalition renewing it, this time when it goes pear shaped the blame will lay directly at the door of IDS as this is his contract and no one else’s