Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment awarded, Atos said: In August, the whistleblower expanded on his allegations in a first-hand account published by the "British Medical Journal". He suggested that the DWP's alleged actions might have been at least partly driven by pressure to "reduce government debt". The DWP's senior doctors made no reply but the clinical director of Atos did respond. In relation to the claim that some Atos assessors had been led to interpret the test's criteria too harshly, she did not deny that the "bogus rules of thumb" had been used in training talks but she said that assessors were expected to follow
Housing Benefit process. Under these latter application schemes, claimants would often contact the responsible central government department, who would then forward the details to the local authority. This has turned out to be a somewhat prescient decision; the gateway for claimants to the new "Universal Credit" system, which replaces Housing Benefit, is the central government department, not local authorities. The date of claim will be the date the claimant you first contacted the Department for Works and Pensions, for claimants applying to the Department for Work and Pensions, and otherwise the date of claim will be treated as the date he contacted