Atos

In your pca guide you say you do not need to divulge your telephone number yet atos is insisting upon it. What's the law. Also there telling me not to provide evidence from gp, which leads me to believe he's out the loop. As i've said before i'm agoraphobic and even if i was able to attend a medical it would contradict my ilness and if i don't go i'm disqualified. Handling tribs/appeals in my position would be impossible as i've no family and live alone. I'm at my wits end. Any thoughts anyone?

Cheers.

I dont know what the law is, re telephone number and im sure someone will be able to advise. I just wanted to say, good luck, i know how you feel and how difficult all this is especially when you are on your own, i know that doesnt really help, just wanted to wish you well

Hi,

Re the telephone, ask Atos what regulation they are relying on to insist you disclose your telephone number. If your condition means that you find it very distressing or confusing to deal with telephone calls then you could explain that to them and say that you are requesting that, as a reasonable adjustment under the disability discrimination act, they write to you rather than phone you.

However, we would not advise you to continue to refuse to disclose your telephone number if they threaten to end the assessment process. Instead you would need to comply but make a formal complaint to the DWP.

If you unable to leave your home ask atos to send a health professional to visit you at home. They won't be keen and you will need medical evidence to support the fact that you aren't able to attend at a medical centre.

Good luck,

Steve

Steve Donnison wrote:

Hi,

Re the telephone, ask Atos what regulation they are relying on to insist you disclose your telephone number. If your condition means that you find it very distressing or confusing to deal with telephone calls then you could explain that to them and say that you are requesting that, as a reasonable adjustment under the disability discrimination act, they write to you rather than phone you.

However, we would not advise you to continue to refuse to disclose your telephone number if they threaten to end the assessment process. Instead you would need to comply but make a formal complaint to the DWP.

If you unable to leave your home ask atos to send a health professional to visit you at home. They won't be keen and you will need medical evidence to support the fact that you aren't able to attend at a medical centre.

Good luck,

Steve

You are not obliged to disclose your telephone number to anyone, and that includes both Atos and the DWP.

If either/both of these organisations were to contact a directory enquiries service and you were listed as ex-directory, it would be against the law to supply confidential information such as this, to a third party without your knowledge. The directory enquiries service would simply tell the interested party of the ex-directory status, and that would be the end of the matter.

If Atos insist that you provide your telephone number and you continue to refuse, you could probably seek redress under the DDA and possibly the Human Rights Act, as well as submitting an appeal if the assessment process was ended.

I doubt very much whether Atos will provide any regulations which state you are compelled to provide your telephone number, but I stand to be corrected?

Atos make the rules up as they go a long my wife has just phoned them to rearrange an appointment after waiting 20 min for an answer my wife advised that the appointment had to be after 4pm as she could not get the time of work and my solicitor could not attend until after 4pm so we needed a later appointment. Arranged an appointment only for the operator to say that we could not miss the appointment as if we did not attend or could not attend we would not be allowed to make another appointment and the benefits would be stopped we had to attend my wife just replied if something happens and we cannot attend our solicitor would ring up and deal with it.

They just make the rules up as they go along (this is the only time we have rearranged an appointment)

how I hate this company