Dear Secretary of State

Re: Discredited research used to justify dangerous WCA 

Please excuse this unsolicited contact.

However, given the evidence within it, and the attached documents, I make no apology for the length of this email.

I would advise you not to dismiss this email and the very detailed content of it.

As the lead researcher in the UK regarding the background to the introduction of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), detailed reports have been provided over the last seven years regarding this fatally flawed assessment using the biopsychosocial (BPS) model, which has no clinical credibility whatsoever, and deems to use an adapted ‘non-medical’ assessment model designed long ago with the influence of American corporate healthcare insurance government ‘advisers.’ The American ‘advisers’ were identified in 2008 by the American Association of Justice as the second worst healthcare insurance company in America, and were found guility of social security disability fraud in America, so someone needs to challenge why this corporate giant were permitted to be ‘advisers’ to the British government ?

http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosbusinessunum.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/17/epluribusunum

http://dragonhow.xyz/american-association-for-justice-ten-worst-insurance-companies/

http://www.diattorney.com/unum-found-guilty-of-social-security-disability-fraud-by-a-federal-jury/

The American ‘government advisers’ on welfare claims management gave evidence to the 2005/06 W&P Select Committee (WPSC), with the WPSC advising in 2014 that the WCA should stop due to the great anxiety created by the claims process. The Cameron government disregarded the 2014 WPSC report, and disregarded all evidence exposing the preventable harm created by the WCA.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mo_Stewart/publications

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmworpen/616/616we37.htm;

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news/esa-wca-report-substantive/

The long awaited and detailed new evidence by academic Tom Shakespeare and colleagues has recently been published (attached). Blaming the victim all over again  exposes in great detail the BPS model of assessment as using ‘policy based evidence’ to justify its use, as government policy blames the claimants and hides from all responsibility for the deaths and despair these welfare reforms have created when guided by corporate America.

http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosbusinessunum.html

http://csp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/25/0261018316649120.abstract

It is of particular concern given that the totally discredited DWP commissioned research, identified by Tom Shakespeare and colleagues, has been used to inform successive government policies regarding the reassessment of Incapacity Benefit claimants being migrated to ESA, as used to resist access to welfare benefits for the long-term sick and disabled population, and is now also being used to limit the number of claimants who may access the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which has replaced the Disability Living Allowance. The BPS assessment was introduced following two government commissioned research reports, which were not peer reviewed and which have both subsequently been totally discredited by genuine academic research conducted by critically acclaimed academics not commissioned by the government.

http://csp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/25/0261018316649120.abstract

http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/media/96941/the_freud_report_full_report.pdf

As a consequence of this DWP tyranny against chronically sick and disabled people, large numbers of employed disabled people are now losing their jobs as their Motability cars are removed when their DLA is stopped and they fail to gain access to PIP.  This now also impacts on disabled veterans, contrary to promises by David Cameron to protect them, as 80,000 disabled War Pensioners are threatened with a PIP assessment that the Cabinet used in a misguided attempt to stop my research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303408285_A_SENSE_OF_BETRAYAL

The acclaimed academic paper by Tom Shakespeare and colleagues, ‘Blaming the victim all over again’ (attached) exposed the Waddell and Aylward BPS model of assessment that demonstrates:

‘no coherent theory or evidence behind this model’ (p3)

‘revealing a cavalier approach to scientific evidence.’ (p3)

‘In conclusion, the relationship of the advocates of the Waddell Aylward BPS to the UK government’s ‘welfare reform’ does not represent evidence-based policy.  Rather, it offers a chilling example of policy-based evidence.’ (p 24)

http://csp.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/25/0261018316649120.abstract

This evidence adds to the disturbing research by distinguished researcher Ben Barr and colleagues, attached, that exposed the WCA as being seriously detrimental to ESA claimants and is ‘strongly associated with increases in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and antidepressant prescribing’ ~ creating serious mental health problems for many. Given that the BMA and the GPs voted to ‘scrap the WCA’ in 2012, and the RCN voted against the WCA in 2013, there is no support whatsoever outside of government circles by medical, healthcare or welfare authorities for this bogus and dangerous WCA using the adapted totally discredited BPS model of assessment.

http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2015/10/26/jech-2015-206209.full

You should also be alert to the growing evidence and the fight back that is growing and exposing the inevitable preventable harm of the adopted neoliberal politics, which was always based on greed not need.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309136004_Editorial_Psychopolitics_in_the_twenty_first_century

Therefore, perhaps now is the time to explain why the DWP totally disregard any and all detailed, independent academic research evidence demonstrating the ongoing preventable harm created by government policies using the WCA, which has adopted the dangerous BPS assessment model, and why policies that will negatively impact on the lives of millions of people are introduced when based on totally discredited government commissioned research, which has not been peer reviewed by experts in the field?

There is also evidence that your predecessor knowingly disregarded a Coroner’s report advising that the WCA process ‘risked causing further deaths of people with mental health conditions.’

http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/scottish-police-assessing-possible-investigation-into-ids-and-grayling/

One of your predecessors (IDS) mastered the use of psycho-coercion, aided by the national press, as the British public were manipulated with extreme claims that had no foundation other than the Waddell and Aylward research, which was sponsored at Cardiff University by the same notorious corporate healthcare insurance giant who were ‘advisers’ to the British government, as disability hate crimes rose to record levels with a 213% increase.

http://www.welfareweekly.com/disability-hate-crime-fuelled-by-propaganda/

http://www.campaignforafairsociety.com/2013/06/the-hidden-agenda-a-research-summary-by-mo-stewart/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-against-disabled-people-soar-to-a-record-level-7858841.html

http://kilburnunemployed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/psycho-coercion-and-workfare-talk-by-lynne-friedli-of-boycott-workfare.html

The totally unsubstantiated 2005 claim that 1 million people could be removed from Incapacity Benefit to find work came from Waddell and Aylward, and was supported by the 2007 Freud Report, which is another government commissioned report that has been totally discredited by high calibre academics, yet the author of that discredited report is now an unelected and influential member of your Department. So, two discredited government commissioned reports, that did not benefit from being peer reviewed, created the justification for preventable harm to over 3 million people.  Most recently, discredited research by the right-wing think-tank REFORM has informed government welfare policies when using very selected references and is another example of policy-based research exposed as being seriously flawed. 

The WCA was always guaranteed to cause preventable harm and many, many deaths as it uses the totally discredited ‘non-medical’ assessment model copied from corporate America that totally disregards diagnosis and prognosis. People with life threatening conditions are being forced to look for employment, and many die trying.  Almost three million chronically ill and disabled British citizens whose financial survival is dependent upon ESA now live in fear of the British government, with what had been constant reassessments for many permanent conditions that can’t improve, with relentless thinly veiled threats against them, and the never ending suggestion that many claimants exaggerate their condition. This ongoing government funded coersion and relentless psychological tyranny cannot ever be justified and all attempts by an extreme and dangerous right wing government will be challenged.

Sick and disabled people are waiting to learn what you and Theresa May are going to do to stop this identified and confirmed government funded tyranny to create the ‘compassionate Conservatism’ identified by the new Prime Minister, yet to be achieved when terrorising the most vulnerable people in society.  The first thing to do is to end the WCA which the President of the Appeal Tribunals identified in 10 consecutive reports as ‘failing to coincide with reality.’

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/FROM-BRITISH-WELFARE-STATE-TO-ANOTHER-AMERICAN-STATE-2013-3rd-edit-FINAL.pdf

Following the recent publication of my book that exposes this government funded tyranny, you have made a good start by  (suddenly) no longer requiring some people with a permanent and profound illness to be constantly reassessed for ESA and have managed to finally comprehend, after 8 years since the introduction of the WCA, that people who have a permanent condition cannot recover just because the British government decide to intimidate them.  However, you have failed credibility by deciding that these same people will still need to have repeated assessments for PIP. Why??  By your own admission they can’t ever get better !

That is totally unacceptable, and is once again an absurd waste of limited resources by a DWP department that continues to bring shame to this nation, by cruel and unjustified American imported assessments that have been demonstrated repeatedly to be dangerous, bogus and introduced for political gain and not for the welfare of the chronically sick and disabled people of this nation.

When will all the ‘experts’ in the DWP comprehend that just because sick and disabled people may want the credibility and the personal satisfaction of going to work does not mean that the DWP should presume that all ESA and PIP claimants are bogus and cause needless suffering for ideological purposes.  And perhaps it is time to inform your unelected, appointed £millionairre Minister for Welfare Reform that chronically sick and disabled people are not ‘inactives’, as he offensively describes anyone too ill to work and unemployed.  Indeed, perhaps the Minister may benefit from comprehending that this nation floats on a raft of donated time and skills, and that voluntary work is often undertaken by those who will never be well enough to undertake paid employment.  As a volunteer, chronically sick and disabled people can donate time and skills to a charity of their choice when well enough, and take time away when unwell, without the constant threat of being identified as a ‘shirker’, which is just one of your predecessor’s offensive descriptions of people not well enough to be in paid employment. Even Lord Freud should  manage to comprehend that simple fact.

The world is watching Mr Green, and the shameful human sacrifices of this nation’s most vulnerable people on the alter of welfare reforms is well known and well documented. The ongoing government rhetoric has been exposed, the needless preventable harm, fear and tyranny imposed against the weakest in society by a dangerous neoliberal UK government is exposed, and one day people will be brought to book for the 100,000+ deaths and unnecessary despair knowingly created for ideological purposes and all linked to the totally bogus WCA.

It is quite a coincidence that within days of my research evidence being published in a new book identified by the Disability News Service, you suddenly announced that, after 8 long years, claimants with a permanent health diagnosis that can’t recover will no longer need relentless WCAs.  This may well be a knee jerk reaction to the publication of my research, but you cannot be taken seriously if these same chronically ill people are to have relentless and repeated PIP assessments for a health condition that will still never improve, regardless of continued DWP intimidation.

http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disabled-researchers-book-exposes-corporate-demolition-of-welfare-state/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/01/dwp-scraps-retesting-for-chronically-ill-sickness-benefits-claimants

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/01/disability-and-illness-test-u-turn-is-a-small-victory-but-the-fight-goes-on

CASH NOT CARE: the planned demolition of the UK welfare state was published recently, and the UK government can’t expect to hide the UN report forever Mr Green.  Government policy is linked with many deaths, and the relentless coercion of this nation’s most vulnerable people is causing preventable harm.

One day, someone will be be held accountable for these American influenced government funded ‘welfare reform’ atrocities, and it would be unwise to presume that because the national press fail the British people by not reporting all this evidence that few know of this treachery.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/cash-not-care/mo-stewart/9781785077838

http://www.newgeneration-publishing.com/bookstore/politics/bookdetails/1749

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cash-Not-Care-planned-demolition/dp/178507783X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476591635&sr=1-1&keywords=CASH+NOT+CARE

I would urge you to access the attached detailed evidence, which is already public knowledge. 

I would further urge you to realise that the government can no longer hide behind the introduction of policies which are guaranteed to negatively impact on millions of people by claiming that ‘academic research’ had provided the evidence as the DWP commissioned ‘academic evidence’ continues to demonstrate that it is policy-based research, not evidence-based research, and is invariably discredited by real experts who are not commissioned by the DWP.

The evidence used to justify terrifying our most vulnerable people is totally discredited. It’s time to end the WCA Mr Green.  Stop tinkering around the edges and offering crumbs of hope, and end the WCA before the UN also investigate you too.

Sincerely

Mo Stewart

Mo Stewart

Disabled veteran (WRAF)

Disability studies researcher

Retired healthcare professional

http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/library/author/stewart.mo

www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html#documents

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