Benefits assessment firm spreads fear and anxiety, claim MPs

A FIRM set up to decide whether sickness benefit claimants are fit enough to work has been criticised in a Commons report for causing "fear and anxiety" among vulnerable and disabled people.

Benefits assessment firm Atos Healthcare, which tests about 11,000 benefit claimants a week to determine how ill they are and whether they are eligible for benefit payments, was accused of providing a service "below the standard" expected.

The report from the House of Commons Work and Pensions committee also said that there was a "suspicion" that the UK government is using the scheme to "save money".

Paris-based IT firm Atos was also criticised about tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash being spent on dealing with appeals against decisions to withhold benefits from claimants, which the report said was a "cause of concern".

The committee chair, Labour MP Dame Anne Begg, said that there had been "failings" in the service and expressed concerns about severely disabled people being forced to go through "face-to-face" interviews, which were "making them ill" and causing "trauma".

The report, published today, said that the service provided by Atos Healthcare "has often fallen below the standard claimants rightly expect". It went on to say: "This has contributed significantly to the widely felt mistrust of the whole process."

The report continued: "The scale of the challenge should not be underestimated and nor should the level of anxiety which currently surrounds the process.

"A suspicion persists that the only objective of the government is to save money. The high number of appeals for claims is a cause of concern."

The estimated cost to the public purse is 50 million per annum, and the report continued: "The pressure on the Tribunals Service has also resulted in a significant delay for claimants before appeals are heard, causing stress and anxiety for claimants and their families."

Labour MP Ms Begg called on Atos to be more sympathetic to the conditions of severely disabled people, when assessing claimants' eligibility for benefits.

She said: "There has been trauma for some people with mental health problems and learning difficulties, sometimes making them ill. There have been too many face-to-face interviews, when a person's conditions could have been determined more easily. A quadriplegic person shouldn't have to go through this for example."

Ms Begg went on to call for "better decision-making" by Atos to ensure it provides more "accurate assessments" of people's fitness for work. "Better decision-making will save the government money in the medium and long term, through fewer appeals and greater efficiency in the process," she said.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman welcomed the report, which it said it would respond to. She said: "The assessment is about helping people who can work get back into employment and we have been clear that disabled people who need unconditional support will receive it.

"We are committed to continuously improving the work capability assessment through a series of Independent Reviews."