Hi Southern Hawker.
My MP was involved at the beginning - he wrote to Grayling, who wrote back to him.
The MP was very sympathetic, but did not grasp the complexities of the case. Grayling did no investigation into what had happened, and simply parroted the party line in his reply.
Waste of time.
The ESA50 came complete with a letter saying that only original documents would be accepted.
I rang DWP to check - they said that it had to be originals, photocopies were not acceptable as they could be tampered with. That's why I sent the package recorded delivery.
I did not set up a redirection with Royal Mail. No need. I live in a very rural area and the postie knows us all by name. I only moved next door.
Despite all that, I phoned both Atos and DWP with the changed details. I followed up with the same in writing. DWP instructed Atos to change the records, which they always do; their records were up-to-date, but Atos did nothing.
It took 2 official complaints, 5 letters, dozens of phone calls, and five months to get Atos to comply with an order from a government department to change their records. That's the point - and they have never apologised for it.
The complaint went to the ICE because that was what the Chief Operating Officer of DWP told me was the next stage in the process.
The ICE has already made a complaint to the Ombudsman regarding DWPs tardiness/obstruction in providing him with the documents he has repeatedly asked for. I have managed to get copies of my files directly from the BDC, so he has the copies now - he is very interested to find that the papers missing from what DWP gave him are ALL related to appalling decision-making and the handling of my complaint by senior management at both Atos and DWP.
The fact is that I got the correct decision, after a fight, some time ago, with full backdating, long before I decided to involve the ICE.
The reason I am pursuing this is because I refuse to allow these morons to treat me like this.
Atos has a very cavalier attitude to the protection of sensitive data. The ESA50s and medical evidence all goes to a Royal Mail sorting office, where it is opened by ordinary posties, and sent on to the relevant area. When Atos get it, they are supposed to treat it as confidential data with all the protections that implies.
The fact that they have no idea where a file is at any given point, knowing only that it isn't where it's supposed to be, is a clear breach of the DPA.
Then they go on to lose/misplace/misfile/remove arguably the most important document (the one which would convince any qualified professional like me (SRN, RMN, DipN, Dip HE)that the person named was actually quite ill), make no search for it, make no offer to pay for the cost of replacement, fail to inform the examining HCP that this evidence is missing, fail to tell the DWP that this evidence is missing, and describe this as "inconvenience" is simply reprehensible.
Atos insist that DWP are their data controllers, which is true. But as data processors, they have a responsibility to ensure the safe storage, transport, and collation of personal medical data, and they invariably pass any complaints about this back to DWP - even when they know that there is a judgement from the ICO that they are in breach of the DPA.
I want, in writing, an acknowledgement from Atos (and DWP - I'm going to write about that too) that they have made these errors (the data stuff is just a small part of it) and I want a full and frank apology. They have offered me £200 (the latest offer - I daresay it'll go up again) to settle this, previously they offered £50. They want me to go away, and they want to pay me to go away. What they will not do is admit what they've done.
They refuse to admit that they have breached the DPA, despite the ICO judgement.
They refuse to admit that the WCAs were unfit, despite their IMA saying they were.
They refuse to admit that complaints handling was poor, despite the IT saying so.
They have witheld evidence from the HCPs, from me, from DWP, from the ICE, and from their own Independent Tier (sic) and the Independent Medical Adviser.
They must be held accountable for this.
In all of their communications with me, they have not addressed these issues. They simply ignore them. The ICE has asked for all the letters they have sent to me - he is very interested in the wording, especially the letters which offer "consolatory" payments.
It'll be interesting to see what happens next.
The ICE can make certain recommendations regarding DWP, but even if he comments on the behaviour of Atos, as things stand he can't compel them to do anything.
I have every intention of going public with this eventually - and I believe that this is what Atos are worried about. Not that I've told them this, obvs.
I think they have a corporate policy of never admitting anything so that nobody can do anything to seek redress. They are aware that they are partially responsible, thanks to misleading and inaccurate reports, of depriving me of more than £1,000 in due entitlement to ESA and DLA, but as ever they pass this on to DWP who make the decisions.
They will never admit that they control the process throughout - the ESA50 is "scrutinised" by Atos; the nature, timing, and venue of the WCA is decided by Atos; the WCA is conducted by and reported on by Atos; the recommendation regarding group allocation is made by Atos; and if a decision maker is unsure about anything, they get "advice" from the Atos staff working at the BDC.
I will have another assessment at some point in the next few weeks/months, and I will not be treated like this again.
I have incurable and degenerative illness, and I have no capability for work - according to my GP, my consultants, my physio, and my CPN. I have documentation from an Occupational Health consultant from my last job in the NHS which states I should be retired on medical grounds; the Atos examiners at NHS Pensions have retired me on medical grounds.
The Atos examiner for DLA recommended an indefinite care award.
I've got evidence galore - but I'm under no illusions about my chances of ending up in the WRAG for the third time in as many years.
It may be the case that some people are satisfied with complaints they make to Atos.
I am not, and I will pursue this until I get them to admit what they have done.
There are 800,000 people claiming ESA. There remain a further million or so for conversion from IB.
All of those people will be "examined" by Atos.
I don't believe for a New York minute that my experience is that unusual - I'm inclined to think that people just give up when Atos blames DWP and vice versa.
I have conducted this complaint according to the procedure I was told was the correct one - I've gone through the layers of management, senior management, IT, etc. and at no point in the process has anyone mentioned the Ombudsman.
My MP is a LibDem. Which says it all, really.

)