A claimant has successfully sued Atos for negligence and failure of duty of care and then sent in the bailiffs when they failed to pay up, the Disability News Service (DNS) has revealed.
The claimant, known as Rebecca, went to the County Court to ask for compensation because of the two year fight she had to get her PIP reinstated, after it was wrongly stopped following a PIP assessment in 2018.
Rebecca has epilepsy and a resulting heart condition, anxiety, depression and memory problems. Despite this, and the fact she was receiving the enhanced daily living component, she received zero points for daily living following her PIP assessment.
Fortunately, Rebecca had recorded her assessment.
The recording was listened to by an appeal panel, who then compared it to the assessor’s account of what had been said.
The panel then found in Rebecca’s favour, restoring her entitlement to the enhanced rate of the PIP daily living component until 2023.
Rebecca was so angry at the treatment she had received from Atos that she sued them through the County Court for ‘mental distress, anxiety and hardship’. Atos made no attempt to defend the claim.
The County Court found in Rebecca’s favour and awarded her compensation of eight per cent of the arears and a further £1,000 in damages. The final total was £2,500.
When Atos failed to pay up, Rebecca arranged for enforcement officers to visit their offices in London, resulting in an extra £2,000 in costs to the company, which finally had to pay up.
