DWP apology for error in double amputee’s fit to work assessment
Julius Holgate.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted there was an error in the process by which a double amputee from Hackney was assessed as being fit to work and had his benefits reduced.
Despite having had both his legs amputated just months earlier, Julius Holgate, 53, scored zero via the points based system to determine what level of benefits he was entitled to.
The decision meant he did still receive some money but was left financially worse off and faced a higher risk of having his benefits stopped completely if he did not check in regularly with the job centre and attempt to search for work.
He said he worried that without the money he had previously been receiving in employment and support allowance he would not be able to afford to travel to see his physio in Essex.
A decision letter noted that although he had no legs, it had been found he could go up and down at least two steps unaided – something Holgate, who uses a wheelchair, said was “pretty much impossible” for him to achieve.
Holgate, who lives off Queensbridge Road, said a DWP contractor had assessed him as part of the government’s back to work regime, and he called the way he had been treated “disgusting”.
He said: “I know they are trying to shake people off the list, but they need to be closely looking at it.
“It’s […] The way they check people. If they were doctors, specialists, they could tell you that you’re sick.
“These people […] they don’t know anything about you, and they can assess you in 15 minutes.
“It’s a bit disgusting as far as I’m concerned.”
Holgate said he has worked in the past, though many years ago.
He suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and said this had been exacerbated by fighting his case with the DWP.
Marcin Brajta, a welfare case officer at Hackney Community Law Centre, said the case was “unusual” as he would have expected Holgate to have gained a higher score than zero on the assessment scorecard given that he has various health issues in addition to his obvious physical disability.
After being contacted by the Hackney Citizen about the case, a DWP spokesperson said: “We have apologised to Mr Holgate for this clerical error, and we are reconsidering his claim.”
This article was amended at 4:30pm Friday 3 February 2017. In the original article Julius Holgate stated that Atos was the DWP contractor that had assessed him. However, it was DWP staff who assessed him.
Atos was renamed Maximus, its the same company except Maximus was part of their occupational heath office. Its all still owned by Unum, a company banned from the USA
It’s absolutely disgusting how they are treating people.having being assessed by this company.who don’t know you from Adam.that can judge you fit for work.even though you provide medical proof that a doctor that has treated you for several yrs and knows your condition and the way it has deteriorated over the yrs causing more medical issues….Why does the government instead of giving everything to refugees n immigrants and not treating them the same way!!! People are being punished for having genuine illnesses..It’s about time this was sorted out.
You’re completely right that it’s revolting how Julius Holgate and thousands of others have been treated the DWP. The fitness to work assessments are a sham and the politicians who make them more ‘stringent’ have blood on their hands. And you’re also right to say that the government is punishing people and just doesn’t care about the poor and the sick. But it’s not true that they’re giving everything to refugees and migrants. There’s just no evidence for this. Firstly, the UK government isn’t giving very much to refugees at all (last year Malta accepted more asylum applications than the UK) and migrants put more money back into the system via taxation than they take out in benefits broadly defined. Secondly, much more cash goes to landlords (via housing benefit), high-income savers (through tax relief), corporations (through cuts to corporation tax), share owners (through easy monetary policy that also pushes up house prices), heirs to wealth (through loose oversight of tax avoidance) and non-doms (same reason). If we believe the lies of those who say otherwise then the only change of government that we can hope for will be for the worse.
Tell me about the stupidity of the assessment questionnaire ! 8 years ago my husband was brilliantly assessed “fit to work” although due to his ongoing chemo treatment and stem cell transplant he could not stand for more 1 minute without falling and having to lay down (treatment in his spine resulted in total loss of balance) ! The nurse carrying out the assessment said that she had enquired and that she had to answer “yes” to the question “Can the person stand up ?”. The result was – there again – that my husband with stage III-IV lymphoma was judge “fit to Work”.
We fought it, but my husband has since recovered his health. Thanks god I was working at the time so money was not too much an issue, but no thanks to the most cretinous and dumb questionnaire I have ever seen.
Did somebody got paid to come out with this thing? My 10 years old nephew would have done a better job at it.
Best of luck to Julius and bravo to the team who took up his case. They have made a difference.
The DWP contractor should be fined for wasting tax payer money.
Sophie C. Edinburgh