Welfare committee grill Atos bosses over their treatment of disabled and vulnerable claimants
Atos bosses have been slammed by a committee of MSPs for their treatment of disabled and vulnerable benefits claimants.
Holyrood’s welfare reform committee grilled clinical director Dr Barrie McKillop and David Haley, a client executive of the firm which was tasked with carrying out work capability assessments (WCAs) on thousands of Scots on disability benefits.
The French firm no longer carries out WCAs in Scotland but still assesses eligibility for the new personal independence payments (PIP) set to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
One SNP MSP rounded on Haley, demanding: “You’ve stated at this moment in time you are contracted by the DWP to carry out these PIP assessments. Could you give us an indication of how much profit Atos is likely to get from this contract?”
We don’t have any targets related to an outcome of an individual case or cases as a whole - Dr Barrie McKillop
But Haley wouldn’t give a figure – investment in extra staff and additional assessment rooms to tackle the backlog in waiting times for assessments had set-back initial profit forecasts, he said.
Joan McAlpine, another SNP MSP, asked McKillop if he could confirm the DWP was aiming to make 20% cuts on PIP.
He said: “We don’t have any targets related to an outcome of an individual case or cases as a whole.
“We don’t even know the outcome of any individual case that we assess.”
In its submission to MSPs, Atos said it had conducted almost 93,000 assessments for people living in Scotland.
It added: "Claimants in Scotland are currently taking approximately four weeks to go through the assessment process (which includes the initial review, assessment and report submission).
“This compares to approximately 14 weeks to go through the assessment process in Scotland this time last year.”
Research for Holyrood’s Welfare Reform Committee has found about 120,000 people in Scotland could lose an estimated £2,600 a year as a result of the changes.
Committee convener Michael McMahon said concerns had been raised about Atos and its subcontractor, Salus, carrying out of assessments for the new PIP scheme.
“Making the transition from DLA to PIP is clearly a worrying time for many vulnerable claimants and we will be asking questions of the process involved and problems experienced,” the Labour MSP said.
