My hon. Friend makes a very important point. In my office, we deal with 12 such cases every week, concerning Atos and sanctions.
The forcible and inhumane imposition of the bedroom tax is a real concern for us. The Prime Minister should have sent the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions back to do his homework properly, and to plan a course of action on welfare benefits on a fair, consistent and evidence-based manner. The fact that he did not demonstrates a weakness to stand up to a dogmatic Minister who has taken a callous, uncaring and brass-neck approach to implementing hurriedly a range of flawed practices that have impacted unfairly on so many of our citizens.
The Chancellor has been culpable of doing us a major disservice, as his Budget did absolutely nothing to address the multiple and shambolic failings of the DWP. Dogmatic intransigence and gross inefficiencies have led thousands to suffer through the application of a target-setting culture, in many cases resulting in unjust sanctions and declarations of fitness to work, despite medical evidence to the contrary. Those injustices have left many honest and upright citizens, for the first time in their lives, being forced to access food banks and payday loans and to get into debt. The numbers have grown massively. From my own constituency, I will highlight three inconsistencies and injustices, but I am sure that they are mirrored many times over in other constituencies throughout the country.
The first involved a man who had a medically certified spinal injury and was therefore unable to lift weights. That was interpreted as job avoidance, despite the fact that he had participated in the required number of job applications. He was sanctioned for 13 weeks and had to resort to the local food bank for sustenance.
The second example involved a lady who had been waiting for months for an Atos appointment. Her employment and support allowance was stopped and she was advised to claim jobseekers’ allowance. She is still waiting for an appointment. It is no wonder that she has been waiting: an informed insider told my office last month that in Scotland and north-east England there are 24,000 Atos reports waiting to be processed. When questioned by me, the director of Atos in charge of quality assurance said he did not recognise that number, but we still await a figure. So much for DWP-Atos quality assurance and standards.
The third example concerns a lady who had suffered a close family bereavement. She explained her situation, but until there was prompt intervention by my office, she was ruthlessly sanctioned. The Government have received regular exhortations to abandon the inhumane and vile imposition of the bedroom tax, and to bring fairness, compassion and dignity to DWP-Atos assessments. They have singularly failed to do so.
The ongoing injustices I have highlighted make it clear that our disadvantaged, poor and disabled are still being treated unfairly. In my main jobcentre, there are only two computer access points. Those people are often dealt with callously, but they too have the right to be treated in a respectful and dignified manner, and the DWP must recognise that. Until this happens consistently, DWP Ministers should hang their heads in shame.
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