The decision concerning being placed on IB idefinately will and can be overrided. For one, IB will no longer exist and it will be the equivalent of a cleaner who will write to tell you that. Make no mistake about it. The point of employing ATOS is not to keep the genuinely sick and needy on benefits but to shove them off where possible. This is a sort of Scorched Earth policy which amounts to a cull of all people on benefits claiming they are too sick to work. You not being able to work once they have kicked you off is your problem not theres, and so any employer not willing to employ you is still your problem and not theres.
There has been a very recent review that has led to the decision to implment changes into the process of the Work Capability Assessment, to help ensure the assessment gives a more accurate outcome.
I work as a Disability Employment Advisor for Jobcentreplus and spend a lot of time discussing the options and outcomes of the medical assessments with customers.....now as a personal opinion (not that of the department) I can see there are problems with the system that have a hugely negative impact for many people, but they are reacting to change things.
That the system for ESA medical assessments has leading to an average of nearly 70% of people appealling against the first decision should tell you something (namely, this may suggest that Atos/DWP do not always get things right), but there are reforms being implemented to ensure that it is fairer and more transparent than it has been to date.
As for the future, compared to the 'old' IB rules, it is clear that ESA claimants will be more rigourously checked to ensure they can only claim for as long as their entitlement remains, and that they will be required to partake of more work focussed activities whilst in recept of benefit than previously was the case for people on sickness benefit. Now for some people this is always going to be inappropriate - hence the Support Group for those most seriously ill or disabled.
But for the majority of people, recovery is likely and work has statistically been proven to be beneficial in the long term for a persons health, both mental and physical. With this is mind, why should someone not be expected to take steps towards work as a condition of receiving their benefit where appropriate?
The reality of the labour market is another question entirely (but something I try to help people overcome every day at work, there are plenty of ill or disabled people who do go to work every day), but the value of paying people to stay at home and do nothing at all for their benefit has been shown to be of dubious value in the long term, in terms of the effects of worklessness on health, social aspects and the development of a dependency culture.
The tighter ESA regime also contrasts withn the older Incapacity Benefit rules which unintentionally allowed thousands to remain on benefit, no questions asked, for long periods of time when their health had actually recovered, or gave them such limited contact with JCP/DWP and the medical profession that benefit fraud could continue for years unchecked.