Taking atos to court??

[donopete]

My ESA was stopped after I had a medical assessment with atos. Finally after over a year, I have won my tribunal and I want to sue atos for stopping my esa when it was clear that I was not fit for work. Can anybody advise me how to go about it please?

[Stoic]

Have you won the lottery?

[antone]

My ESA was stopped after I had a medical assessment with atos. Finally after over a year, I have won my tribunal and I want to sue atos for stopping my esa when it was clear that I was not fit for work. Can anybody advise me how to go about it please?

 

Yes, I can advise. Forget the whole idea. Focus on yourself and your health. Such a suit would have little or no chance of success.

[donopete]

Why do you say that there is not much chance? Surely if they were negligent in their assessment, then I should do something?

[antone]

Why do you say that there is not much chance? Surely if they were negligent in their assessment, then I should do something?

 

You can do what you like, including suing Atos if that's what you want to do. But the mere fact that their assessment was overturned at a Tribunal doesn't come anywhere close to proving negligence on their part. Plus, of course, they don't actually make the decision - the DWP does.

 

Don't waste your time and energy on this - it would be tilting at windmills.

[rebel11]

Your claim would be against the DWP, ATOS are employed by the DWP to carry out assessments. Before you even get to a point where you can take the DWP to court, you need to follow their complaints guidance, look at the DWP's charter:-

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/292673/customer-charter-dwp.pdf

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

 

A court will want to see that you've tried to resolved matters before starting proceedings.

 

My ESA was stopped after I had a medical assessment with atos. Finally after over a year, I have won my tribunal and I want to sue atos for stopping my esa when it was clear that I was not fit for work. Can anybody advise me how to go about it please?

[reallymadwoman]

I will second all the previous advice to not even consider taking this near a court and go a bit further - don't bother complaining either. It's stressful, drawn out and ultimately a complete waste of time.

[rebel11]

If you've got a genuine complaint, it's important that it's documented, it might be totally futile, but doing nothing means 100% that nothing will change.

 

The state owes a 'Duty of Care' to it's citizens, people on benefits have died through the mistakes made by the DWP/Atos during and post assessment.

[tomtom256]

I am not sure exactly what you would sue them for though?

 

Your ESA was stopped by the DWP and presumably when you won the appeal you were back paid to the date it ceased?

 

Your best bet as others have stated is to make an official compaint to the DWP regarding the decison maker and possibly ATOS regarding whoever did your medical/assessment as presumably one of those is at fault.

[osdset]

Crikey! If all of us that failed the WCA and subsequently won at appeal could sue, it would probably bankrupt the DWP.

[worried33]

I can understand why he wants to do it.

 

MY official complaint yielded me a pittance of compensation, paying out £10 or £20 compensation here and there is hardly going to make the DWP rethink what they doing, a lost court case with say a 6-7 figure fine and lots of negative publicity? different story.

 

Problem is we will never get there, most people as shown in this thread do not have the motivation, energy, and financial means to push a proper legal case. They are exhausted just fighting their own case one step at a time and the DWP know this hence take advantage of it. Also as stated it is the DWP that needs to be challenged not ATOS. If ATOS were to lose such a case the absolute worst that would happen is the DWP would say "yeah they didn't do what they was told, we have terminated their contract and will get someone else in", that's it. Which is close to what's happened anyway with the protests, the DWP getting of scot free.

 

On JSA not quite the same story as discovered with those 2 people who challenged the DWP and partially won, but even in that defeat the government simply changed the law, which a later court seems to have now been offended by and said that was blocking justice?

[rebel11]

A good post.

 

I can understand why he wants to do it.

 

MY official complaint yielded me a pittance of compensation, paying out £10 or £20 compensation here and there is hardly going to make the DWP rethink what they doing, a lost court case with say a 6-7 figure fine and lots of negative publicity? different story.

 

Problem is we will never get there, most people as shown in this thread do not have the motivation, energy, and financial means to push a proper legal case. They are exhausted just fighting their own case one step at a time and the DWP know this hence take advantage of it. Also as stated it is the DWP that needs to be challenged not ATOS. If ATOS were to lose such a case the absolute worst that would happen is the DWP would say "yeah they didn't do what they was told, we have terminated their contract and will get someone else in", that's it. Which is close to what's happened anyway with the protests, the DWP getting of scot free.

 

On JSA not quite the same story as discovered with those 2 people who challenged the DWP and partially won, but even in that defeat the government simply changed the law, which a later court seems to have now been offended by and said that was blocking justice?