Calls for Independent Investigation on Atos
- 02 Nov
Labour MP calls for investigation into how Atos won disability assessment contract after errors are found in application.
Claims that the Atos made misleading statements about proposed co-operation with disability groups to help secure disability assessments contract must be immediately investigated, Labour and several disability charities have demanded.Leaked information from the tendering documents reveal that the firm said it would work with a number of disability organisations to carry out eligibility tests for a new disability benefit.
Four of the organisations named in the document said they had no contact with Atos before being named as possible partners and strongly objected to any suggestion that they planned to co-operate with the company.
Anne McGuire, the shadow minister for disabled people, said the process by which Atos won the contract should be scrutinised by external auditors:
These revelations raise extremely serious questions over the £540m PIP [personal independence payment] contracts. There is now clear evidence that Atos won a £400m contract with a bid that was misleading.
There must be an immediate investigation because the integrity of the entire process is now in serious doubt. Ministers must now explain exactly how these claims got through unchecked.She said the party would ask the public accounts committee to refer the matter to the National Audit Office if there were no "rapid answers".
In its bid for contracts to provide assessments for PIP, which is due to replace the disability living allowance from 2013, Atos said it would be working in partnership with charities "such as" the Essex Coalition of Disabled People (ECDP), the Greater Manchester Coalition for Disabled People (GMCDP) and Disability Cornwall.
Disability Cornwall said in an emailed statement:
We would not consider working with an organisation which has caused so much distress to so many disabled people.
We have also voiced our concerns about how Atos Healthcare were able to win contracts [and] implied it would work with organisations such as ourselves without first seeking permission from the organisations it quoted. We hope the pressure on the government to investigate the manner in which this tender was won is successful.A spokesperson for Atos Healthcare said:
We would hope that disabled people and their organisations will work with us to make the delivery of PIP as smooth as possible for those going through the process. We are making contact with those named in our tender document to ask them to share their expertise and knowledge with us.
Richard Currie, spokesperson for GMCDP, said the suggestion of any future co-operation was "preposterous". He said the group had found out about the organisation's proposed involvement only when contacted by a journalist for the Disability News Service. The group was "absolutely outraged" by Atos's attempt to "gain credibility in the sector ... trying to curry favour by putting our organisation's name on this contract," he said. "It does damage to our brand to be associated with them."
A spokesperson for ECDP said staff had been "very disappointed" to find themselves named in the tendering document without having been consulted previously.
A spokesperson for the DWP said the inclusion of proposed partner disability organisations was not central to the decision to award the bid to Atos, and so there was no need for any investigation.
Source: The Guardian
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