#Mentally ill are neglected in the #NHS, but actively tormented by DWP It has long happened in the case of disabled resisters determined to fight back against grotesque misjudgements by #Atos over work capability assessments. It is now just beginning to happen in the case of the mentally ill who are often even less able to protect their rights. What is now being exposed is even worse than people’s wildest suspicions, exacerbated by the revelation that such bullying and aggressive treatment is deliberate Department for Work and Pensions - DWP policy. A secret briefing by a DWP Jobcentre Plus manager, recently reported, highlights the sheer cruelty with which mentally ill persons are hounded by the Department in order to push them off #benefits. A great number of those on employment and support allowance (ESA) are suffering from mental illness or learning difficulties. Despite the #DWP always insisting they never used targets, the jobcentre manager produced a printed sheet called ‘spinning plates’ marked by red for missed, green for hit. The target in her office was 50.5% for ‘off flows’, i.e. pushing people off ESA. The instructions from DWP are to “disrupt and upset” these mentally ill claimants, described in officialese as “offering further support”, but actually patently bullying and intimidating these defenceless people. Then when #ESA #claimants get near the target deadline that none should be on benefit for more than 65 weeks, staff are told to report them all to the fraud department to subject them to further and nastier pressure so that as many as possible are removed from benefit within the timescale aimed for. As many as a sixth may then be ‘sanctioned’, i.e. deprived of all benefits for trivial or even frivolous reasons.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 20:07:49 +0000
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