Still waiting for a date for my Atos medical (my second one). Its been about 9 weeks now, since I sent the form in. They must be snowed under.

Disabled people are just seen as a massive drain on resources. If the truth was told they'd love everyone to die before they reached 70. They'd be able to lower the taxes for the rich even more then.

I had my benefit suspended a few months ago, and while waiting for the appeal to go through I claimed Hardship Allowance. Not sure of the exact figures but I think they allow you 2 thirds of your JSA to live on. More than £35 anyway. That must be the absolute minimum they think you can live on.

They're striking on most peoples behalf, nurses, fire fighters, police, soldiers. All the people that have to suffer in silence.

If all the MPs and the Lords took a cut in their pensions I might have some sympathy.

You should be complaining about government policy, not people striking for their rights.

Just thought people should take a look at this. Its not just about pensions.

So in short, they just keep moving the goalposts till the punishment fits the crime. Its just the sneaky way they go about things, "You are better of in work than on benefits, Your health will improve if you are in work" I can't see the government picking on the pensioners. Since Jack Jones got them to realize what power they had if they got organized, each party has steered clear of annoying them. People with power only respect others with power.

This comment from the last link made me laugh. I have today been told that I am 100% fit for work again … so this will be my second appeal. I won the last one in about five minutes flat .. the medical report was so inaccurate. I have also won three appeals for DLA … I really don’t know about aggravated trespass – it’s a wonder nobody has put their windows in … They call our local centre lourdes – you go in disabled and come out 100% fit for work …

Well they don't want the unemployment figures to go through the roof so people not seen fit for work will get ESA. Remember what the government did in the 80s, all the unemployed miners.....they encouraged them to go onto the sick, so as not to make the dole queues any longer. Things were a lot different then though....we had lots of North Sea oil to pay for it all.

Been thinking about this, and the only reason I can see for introducing these measures is to get absolutely EVERYONE off all kinds of sickness benefit. At present lots of people get through the medical with enough points to carry on getting their benefit without appealing. Also lots of people win their appeals and go back to full benefit. They obviously want to stop this any way they can, so if you can't get a new sick note in the first place, they'll stop every thing in its tracks. You HAVE to be given the right to appeal every decision, so you will be allowed to carry on getting ESA while you wait for the appeal, as we do now. Just like ATOS, if they can install people NOT give sick notes to everyone, they would be saving a fortune, with ALL claimants being in a constant state of going through appeal, either appealing the ATOS medical decision, or this new crowd that are not giving out sick notes. Pretty soon no one will be getting more than the basic Jobseekers amount of money. Sickness benefit will be a thing of the past. It'll take a few years to achieve all their aims, but they WILL achieve them.

I've never thought about it like that. Good observation. Funny how we never hear about MPs salaries or their gold plated pensions being cut.

What we've had for years, is a drip, drip effect of stories in the media of Benefit Cheats, and nothing about the people that are suffering in silence. They've brainwashed the majority of the public into thinking that anyone on benefits is a scrounger. So when announcements like this are made, the masses aren't outraged as they should be. Obviously I'm not saying there are no cheats, but people on benefits are an easy target. I'm afraid the future looks very frightening.

They need Puppets to get their agenda through. The way things are going, in a few years the welfare state will not exist.

"Independent" assessment service. That means no one has any influence over its decisions:roll: Yeah, right!

"Tough on sickness and tough on the causes of sickness" Wonder who they'll have doing this then? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15801515

I think you'd find it even harder to manage on nothing.

Yes it got mentioned in the papers a week or so ago. Because of all the appeals taking place, its costing a fortune and they don't like it. I don't think they would get away with bringing that in, as people would be outraged. They'll have to change the Atos medical instead, so you don't need so many appeals. They've made a rod for their own back with this one.

Yes. Everyone knows its bull, but they have to be seen as doing the right thing. So you have to go through the same hoops as you did the first time. Its a pain, but at least you don't have to go back to signing on and looking for jobs that are totally unsuitable for you, while being harassed byAdvisors.

Yes this is my second term on ESA. Just waiting for the date for my medical now.

They'll just keep changing the rules until they can get everyone off the sick. The money has to come from somewhere to keep paying them their gold plated pensions.

I went onto JSA for a few days after my Tribunal hearing, as I wasn't sure what to do, and didn't want to lose out on any benefits. I ended up losing a few days money doing it that way. I had the hassle of making an appointment with my Doctor (which lost me a few days) so she could give me a new sick note then reapplied for ESA. (Doctors won't backdate sick notes, so you have to be prepared for this). I am currently waiting for my second Atos "medical" appointment, which I fully expect to fail again, and will have to go through the whole process again. This time however I intend to get a new sick note before I get the result from Atos, so I can appeal and get my claim in straight away, when I need to.

As long as your Doctor has given you a new sick note, you can reclaim.

You just keep re claiming until you retire:lol:

Yet another scheme to disguise the real unemployment figures. They'll be bragging next year at how unemployment is coming down. Seen it all before. They must think we're all daft.