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4 THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH · 27 FEB - 4 MAR 2012

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current contract. We willmonitor the success and take-upof this in six months time.”

Atos confirmed theagreement. A spokesperson said:“Atos is happy to facilitate therecording of assessments shoulda claimant request it.”

For some, however, thechange has come too late.

54-year-old David Smith, whowas forced into early retirementdue to arthritis in his feet, kneesand spine, told The Big Issue in

the North he asked to have hisassessment recorded last year – but Atos failed to provide it. Hewas subsequently deemed fit towork and is taking his case toappeal.

Anxiety“It’s much too late for me,”Smith said. “I’m now in thesituation where my benefitshave been sanctioned and I’mgoing through the appealprocess. I really object to thefact that having worked for 34years, and paid my tax andnational insurance for thatwhole time, I’m now treated assome sort of scrounger. Youdon’t have five bouts of surgerywithout a reason.”

WCAs have been a source of much debate since April lastyear, when the coalitiongovernment began a process of putting 1.5 million people ondisability benefits through themin a bid to slash claimantnumbers. Some 11,000 people aweek are currently undertakingthe tests.

In November, an investigation by the The Big Issue in the

North (issue 901) reported that

claimants seeking reform of theassessment system.

“I think it will make Atosimprove in regard to how theyconduct the actual assessmentsand how they produce theirreports,” he said. “What’s beenhappening often is that peoplego and have their assessmentand the report doesn’t match upwith their experience of it. SoI think this will be a benefit forAtos as well as the claimant... itwill be a safeguard for bothsides.”

Change too lateHe added: “The DWP and Atosnow need to put thisinformation on all their formsand on their website so thatpeople know that they’ve got theright to have their assessmentrecorded.”

The DWP confirmed that thechange is effective immediately,and will be detailed formally bythe government in a soon-to-be-published evaluation followinga pilot study last year.

A DWP spokesperson said:“There has been an agreement toaccommodate requests fromclaimants to record theirassessment using equipment

available to Atos as part of their

A protest against welfare reform

for people with disabilties

Homeless

A group of young filmmakersare up for an award for theirchallenging examination of attitudes towards homelessness.

Eighteen young women, fromHyde in Tameside, planned,filmed and edited the nine-minute piece, in aprofessionally mentored projectorganised by Women inSupported Housing (WISH).Some of the members, who areall aged between 16 and 25,

have themselves experiencedhomelessness.

In their short, simply entitledHomelessness, vox popinterviews with members of thepublic reveal the breadth of attitudes towards andmisconceptions about peoplewho are street homeless orvulnerably housed.

PoignantOne man claims homelesspeople are all simply lazy andunwilling to work, and suggestscompulsory national service

would be a solution for thosewithout a roof over their head.But others are moresympathetic, acknowledging thecomplex reasons why people

Disability campaigners haveclaimed a major victory after

the government shifted itspolicy on making audiorecordings during controversialwork capability assessments.

There have long beencomplaints that the tests, part of a coalition plan to cut thenumber of people claimingsickness benefits, produceinaccuracies and lacktransparency.

Previously the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) had arestrictive set of rules in placethat prohibited all recordings –unless they were made by a“professional operator” whowould have to be paid for by theclaimant.

‘Great advancement’Under the new policy the ruleshave been relaxed, with Atos,the private company paid £100 million a year by thegovernment to deliver the workcapability assessments (WCAs),made to provide a recording freeof charge to anyone whorequests it.

Paul Smith, an activist whoruns an online Atos supportgroup, called the development a

“great advancement” for

Tapes roll fordisabilitycampaigners

the system was causing severestress and anxiety for disabledpeople. Some who contacted themagazine said they had madetheir own secret recordings of assessments because they hadconcerns about the accuracy of the process.

A high number of Atos’sdecisions are known to beincorrect. According to officialfigures, 40 per cent areoverturned on appeal.

QualityA series of recommendations toimprove the assessments wasmade last year in a government-commissioned report byProfessor Malcolm Harrington.He suggested that audiorecordings could help drive upthe quality of assessments.

But during a parliamentarymeeting earlier this month, MPssaid many problems had not

 been resolved, criticising the

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GOT A STORY? CONTACT 0161 831 5563 OR EMAIL NEWS@BIGISSUENORTH.CO.UK

PRISON SUICIDESInspectors at HMP Manchester saythat suicide rates are too high afterseven self-inflicted deaths in twoyears. Chief Inspector of PrisonsNick Hardwick said the prison wasnot ensuring lessons were learntand that staff had accepted this asthe norm. He concluded that whilecases of self-harm had decreased,from 22 to 10 a month in two years,care for at-risk patients had room

for improvement.

MERSEYSIDE MEASLESFigures have continued to rise inthe Merseyside measlesoutbreak. The Health ProtectionAgency said there were 20confirmed cases and 41 underinvestigation. Officials say thereseems to be more than onesource to the infection and thereis a pool of unprotected olderchildren in the community.Parents are encouraged to checkthat their children are vaccinated.

MISSING FAMILIESA single certificate declaringsomeone presumed dead wouldhelp families resolve the affairs ofthose missing, as they currentlyface a confusing, costly andemotionally exhausting legalprocess, according to the Commons Justice Select Committee. The reportcomes after families of missingpeople appealed to MPs, includingthe wife of Manchester man VincentDerrick, whose remains were foundlast week.

 JEWISH SCHOOLPlans for a Jewish high school, anextension of the state Brodetsky

 Jewish Primary School inAlwoodley, Leeds, have beensubmitted to the government. Adecision will be made thissummer on the school, whichwould save 100 pupils from the90-mile round trip they make forfaith-based education inManchester, but critics believethe Jewish population in thenorth is not large enough tosupport two Jewish high schools.

NEWS IN BRIEF

lose their housing – fromsubstance misuse to family breakdown, unemployment andmental illness.

There are also poignantpersonal anecdotes from peoplewho are currently on the streetsor formerly homeless, includingseveral of the young filmmakers.

The project was funded

through a £5,000 grant fromFirst Light, a charity that aims todevelop media skills in youngpeople from diverse anddisadvantaged backgrounds. It is

The Hyde youngsters at work. Below: a still from the resulting film

sness film up for award

a collaboration between WISH,which provides supportedaccommodation for youngwomen, Hyde CommunityAction, Hyde BangladeshiWelfare and Treshold.Homelessness is now up for

the best documentary prize atFirst Light’s national awards,which take place this week at

London’s British Film Institute.The judges will include thedirectors Danny Boyle and SamMendes.

Challenging Jason Wingard, of Manchesterfilmmakers JMG Media, whohelped the women shape theirideas into the finished piece,said: “This is a piece abouthomelessness made by peoplewho have been homeless or

living in supported housing,and it really is the youngwomen’s film. All we have doneis facilitate the project.”

The group developed theirideas for this film in workshopsand shot the vox pops withinthree days.

“They did everything – fromplanning to handling all theequipment. They found thatpeople held all kinds of viewsabout homelessness, some of 

them quite challenging,” saidWingard.

OpinionsDuring the editing phaseWingard and his team workedwith the group to select thestrongest interviews and videosequences. It was important torepresent a balance of viewswithin the final piece, includingthe opinions that the womenmay not have liked.

Of the 18 young women,about half were fully engaged inthe filmmaking process, while

others drifted in and out.Wingard said: “People thinkfilmmaking is going to be reallyexciting but actually a lot of it isquite boring, and that is wherethe mentoring comes in on aproject like this.”

Other contenders for the FirstLight award include youngpeople with refugee status andyoung offenders.

CIARA LEEMING

“current chaos” of the systemand accusing Atos staff of “totalunprofessionalism”.

Labour MP Tom Greatrex said:“Over the past 12 months inparticular we have seen achaotic process, which takes aninordinate amount of time,causes great anxiety for many,takes up huge amounts of publicmoney, especially in the appealsprocess, and is doing adisservice to those who want toget back to work and those whowill not be able to work.”

Employment minister ChrisGrayling defended theassessments. “We have doneeverything that we can to createa system that gets it right asoften as possible,” he said.

RYAN GALLAGHER

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