An earlier piece in SIC described
the rewards for failure handed out to Atos (Subversive
Inappropriate Cartoons: If at first you don’t succeed…we’ll give you another
large contract anyway), the company contracted by DWP to carry out Work
Capability Assessments, and subsequently, assessments for the new Personal Independence
Payment. A story in last week’s Guardian (Atos
subcontracts tests for new disability benefit to NHS | Society | The Guardian)
revealed that the company is now subcontracting some of the tests back to the public sector! A number of NHS trusts are already carrying
out the work, and Atos has approached others.
We don’t know how much Atos receives for each test, how much it pays the Trusts, and
how much the administration of all this costs.
SIC is submitting a Freedom of Information request to DWP to try to find
answers – and when we hear we'll publish the results here.
