26 March 2008
Atos Healthcare is set to make many millions of pounds of additional profits out of the new Employment and Support Allowance medical assessment system.
Employees of Atos Healthcare were on the technical working groups which drew up the new, more complex, testing system - the Work Capability Assessment -from which the company will profit.
Anne McGuire Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the DWP revealed in a written answer that the increased costs of examinations is expected to be in the region of £200 million up to August 2015. This covers the costs of the new medical assessments including the new work focused health-related assessment, gathering information from customers and health care professionals, investments in information technology, infrastructure, overheads and set-up costs.
