General Tater And The Esa Merry-go-round

[Peach]

If anyone cares to remember, Tater has been at war with the ESA for years and it seemed to come to a head a month or so ago when his case was referred to ATOS. He was sure it was downhill from there. They called non-stop and scheduled him (not at his regular Doc) for a physical. He didn't go or cancel. Guess he was showing them who was boss. Guys, right? LOL

Well, Monday, they had an appointment to send a caseworker to his house to discuss the options and what was required. It sounds to me like it went well...he's still being a downer and feels like it's doomed. He won't have a positive attitude until/if he gets what he wants. Until then it's all a big hassle for him.

Now he's saying there was talk of sending a "healthcare professional" to his home to complete the medical. That sounds like a positive step in his favor, if you ask me. If they were going to deny him, they could have done so by now to get his pain in the ass off their books and could have come out smelling like roses because they did try to get him in for a check-up and tried to contact him...all the time. Instead, they're sending peeps to him which takes extra time and money.

Anyone been through something like this?

 

[Deleted member 29920]

I thought maximus had taken over from atos? I am aware of how harsh they are and a documentary on channel 4 said they have to put a certain amount in work related activity to meet targets? Even if it goes badly wrong, can tater appeal against their decision?

 

[Peach]

Hmm, I don't know. He's not yet mentioned "Maximus."

He was in the middle of an appeal when his case was sent to ATOS, so after this, it sounds like maybe the end of the road. But he always seems to have something up his sleeve, so maybe not. Hopefully it won't come to that.

 

[Purplemunchkin]

I get very confused about how these different groups work.

I know hubby had to be assessed by ATOS, but that was for work and was paid for by his employer, rather than being a government assessment.

It seems like whoever does it for the government has some other agenda as you hear about people who really do need and deserve the help being rejected, whilst others who could work, but know how to work the system, get accepted.

I really don't get it at all.

 

[Peach]

Ahh, Governments...so helpful and always so helpful to their citizens. :p

I looked up the channel 4 interviews, @Cj77 , it was interesting. It said that Citizens Advice has seen an 80% rise in people seeking council since ATOS took over. Yikes!

 

[Peach]

Hmm, maybe they're not as helpful as I had hoped. The ATOS rep who went to his house made mentioned that they had tried to call several times "and have left numerous messages." To which Tater said, "That's weird, how can they leave messages on a phone that has no message service?" The guy went completely silent, then asked to check the phone, found there was no answering service, and didn't have an answer for that. LOL Tater said he's caught them in several lies. Poor guy...and all the other people who need help but get jerked around. Ridiculous!

 

[Deleted member 29920]

That's pretty shocking, did he tape record them or have a witness to confirm how the atos guy had lied? I think you can request to record it although they'd maybe get annoyed if he done that? How did it go, overall?

 

[Purplemunchkin]

I think that's pretty standard behaviour isn't it? And, to be fair, it might not be that person that lied. Someone may have added notes to the file to say they had left a message, when they hadn't. Or, based on our experience of the quality of their admin, they may have left messages on a wrong number!

 

[Peach]

I don't know if the guy was lying on purpose or just misinformed, he said that's what had been written in the file. Clearly someone, somewhere had exaggerated the truth, for sure.

They really did call him a lot...did his nut in because for whatever reason he doesn't do well with phone calls, making or receiving them.

No witness was there and he didn't say anything about having recorded them, but I know he LOVES his paper trails. He likes to be able to prove things did or did not happen.

Overall, I guess it went well. I have to filter everything he tells me about this through his cynacism. LOL They may be sending someone to do his medical check, but haven't heard anything yet. Only time will tell.