:00:04. > :00:09.I am at East Carlton in Northamptonshire. This is what is
:00:09. > :00:14.coming up on tonight's Inside Out. We investigate why this man is one
:00:14. > :00:20.of thousands to be wrongly assessed as being fit to work. If I did not
:00:20. > :00:25.have everything that was wrong with me, I would bite anybody's arm off
:00:25. > :00:28.who would give me a job. A after 12 months of extreme
:00:29. > :00:34.temperatures we ask if our weather is really changing.
:00:34. > :00:38.It was 18 degrees below freezing, so phenomenally cold.
:00:38. > :00:43.And a very unusual war memorial - why first-world-war soldiers from
:00:43. > :00:51.this village had nothing to fear. You can imagine the relief,
:00:51. > :01:01.gratitude and celebration. They are our three surprising
:01:01. > :01:11.
:01:11. > :01:15.This is East Carlton Country Park, and later in the programme I will
:01:15. > :01:18.be telling of wider village as a special place in history. First,
:01:18. > :01:22.thousands of people have been told they could be walking instead of
:01:22. > :01:32.claiming sickness benefits. In trying to clamp down on those
:01:32. > :01:35.
:01:35. > :01:39.taking advantage, many are being wrongly told they are fit to work.
:01:39. > :01:44.Do you have everything you need? Yes, I have everything.
:01:44. > :01:49.Two years ago, Peter Reynolds fell off of a forklift truck at work. He
:01:49. > :01:54.is now chronically ill with a deep vein thrombosis, problems with his
:01:54. > :01:57.lungs, and his lymphatic system has stopped working. He is looked after
:01:57. > :02:04.by his parents. After the accident he was told that he would never
:02:04. > :02:07.work again. He is in and out of hospital on a regular basis. Today
:02:07. > :02:17.he is undergoing a procedure at Addenbrooke's Hospital to help with
:02:17. > :02:17.
:02:17. > :02:23.the pain. I sat and cried my eyes out. A man of 47, to be told I
:02:23. > :02:32.would never work again after working since I left school. It is,
:02:32. > :02:36.like I said, gut-wrenching. I sat and cried. I still can't accept it.
:02:36. > :02:44.He needs constant care and needs to wear a body suit all the time. Why
:02:44. > :02:52.do you have to wear this? To stop my legs from swelling. It keeps my
:02:52. > :02:59.legs under control. If I do not wear it, within a matter of hours
:02:59. > :03:02.my legs would be so big that the skin would not be able to hold but
:03:02. > :03:06.-- hold back the fluid and it would ulcerate.
:03:06. > :03:11.After the accident, Peter received sickness benefit, but within weeks,
:03:11. > :03:17.under new Government rules, he was asked to prove just how sick he was.
:03:17. > :03:21.Plans to cut billions of pounds from benefits means that the
:03:21. > :03:26.millions of people on benefits must be reassessed. The Government is
:03:26. > :03:32.paying ATOS, a private IT company, �100 million a year to carry out
:03:33. > :03:36.the tests. In Cambridge, ATOS works in the Jobcentre Plus Medical
:03:36. > :03:39.Centre. The company assessed Peter and found him fit enough for
:03:39. > :03:43.something of work. Peter is one of thousands of ill or disabled people
:03:43. > :03:47.who believe they have been wrongly assessed. If he came to the local
:03:47. > :03:52.Citizens' Advice Bureau for help. Pebble Padfield, one of the
:03:52. > :03:58.advisers at the branch, represented Peter. She believes that the
:03:58. > :04:03.assessment process is deeply flawed. I think it is undeniable that the
:04:03. > :04:10.onus of proof is on the claimant to show that they are not fit for work.
:04:10. > :04:18.How can somebody with chronic depression or back pain or whatever
:04:18. > :04:22.have the confidence, the articulacy at that moment to prove their
:04:22. > :04:29.condition to that person? Peter has had to suffer months of uncertainty
:04:29. > :04:38.about his future but, with Pebble's help, he got the ATOS assessment
:04:38. > :04:43.overturned. I have your medical report here from the assessment.
:04:43. > :04:48.Today pedal is seeing someone else who needs advice. Like Peter,
:04:48. > :04:55.Thomas McDonnell has been found fit for work. He also believes the
:04:55. > :05:05.decision was wrong. He suffers from severe depression. Thomas, though,
:05:05. > :05:10.is at the start of the appeal stage. She had not really examined me. My
:05:10. > :05:16.doctor says I am not fit for work. I have a lot of medical problems. I
:05:16. > :05:26.have two specialists that I go to seed. This person who did not
:05:26. > :05:29.
:05:29. > :05:32.physically examine may -- that I'd go to see. This person who did not
:05:32. > :05:35.physically examine the decided she was better than those. Better than
:05:35. > :05:39.the specialists. A his appeal could take a year to
:05:39. > :05:45.be heard, in the meantime he is on a Job Seeker's Allowance which pays
:05:45. > :05:50.�30 a week less than the benefit he was receiving. There have been
:05:50. > :05:55.times when I have felt that I cannot cope any more. That is not
:05:55. > :06:00.good news when you already suffer from depression, is it? Not really.
:06:00. > :06:07.It doesn't help much. My friends and neighbours are trying to get me
:06:07. > :06:11.through the best they can. I feel bad because I do not have the money
:06:11. > :06:17.for myself to live, never mind doing anything else. It does not
:06:17. > :06:22.help your self-respect again. am not a scrounger. I try to go
:06:22. > :06:28.through life the best I can. Pebble believes that ATOS is
:06:28. > :06:33.letting people down. There appears to be no incentive whatsoever for
:06:33. > :06:37.ATOS to do a thorough job. They are paid to do this assessment, give
:06:37. > :06:42.the evidence to Jobcentre Plus. They are not assessed in any sense
:06:42. > :06:46.on the number of successful appeals on the basis of their evidence.
:06:46. > :06:50.They actually have no incentive to get it right.
:06:50. > :06:54.If in fact, thousands of people have been successful in getting the
:06:54. > :07:04.ATOS assessment overturned. Of the 146,000 appeals that are being
:07:04. > :07:08.heard, over a third have been upheld. That is over 56,000 people.
:07:08. > :07:14.For someone like Peter, the tragedy is that he would love to work if he
:07:14. > :07:21.could, but his life is taken up with managing his illness. Very
:07:21. > :07:27.uncomfortable. If I did not have everything that was wrong with me,
:07:27. > :07:34.I would bite anybody's arm off who would give me a job. I would sooner
:07:34. > :07:38.be out in the workplace, doing a decent day's work for a decent
:07:38. > :07:42.day's payee than be in the messiah men.
:07:42. > :07:45.We asked ATOS to explain the high number of incorrect assessments.
:07:45. > :07:50.The company declined to be interviewed but it did send the
:07:50. > :07:54.following statement. It said that it focuses on quality and
:07:54. > :07:57.satisfaction to stop whilst it was recognised that the number of
:07:57. > :08:03.appeals was higher than would be liked, the total number of appeals
:08:03. > :08:07.is just 7% of all assessments carried out. We also wanted to
:08:07. > :08:11.speak to the Department for Work and Pensions. It, too, declined to
:08:11. > :08:16.be interviewed but did send a following statement. They said they
:08:16. > :08:25.would continue to review and refine assessments to ensure they are
:08:25. > :08:29.effective, fairer for patients and, as a result, fairer to the taxpayer.
:08:29. > :08:39.A review into the assessment scheme will be undertaken by the
:08:39. > :08:46.government and published this autumn. It is very degrading
:08:46. > :08:51.because it is all right for them to be in an office, shut away and not
:08:51. > :09:01.seeing the person in question or the people who have to look after
:09:01. > :09:03.
:09:03. > :09:13.that person. If only them who make all these decisions were to see the
:09:13. > :09:14.
:09:14. > :09:19.person and see what they have to go through day after day. Not only me,
:09:19. > :09:24.but my parents to look after me, what they have to do. Then them who
:09:24. > :09:32.make the decisions would see things in a different light. I personally
:09:32. > :09:35.think that. Lovely to see you. How are you feeling today? Could be a
:09:35. > :09:39.lot better. Making the system fairer, though,
:09:39. > :09:47.may mean that others will not have to go through the ordeal be to win
:09:47. > :09:51.through. -- Peter went through. As ever, if there is anything you
:09:51. > :10:01.think we should investigate here Ron Inside Out I would love to hear
:10:01. > :10:01.
:10:01. > :10:07.from you. Send me any male. -- send me an e-mail.
:10:07. > :10:12.Later, why we should remember those who survived after fighting for
:10:12. > :10:17.their country. There is not a day goes by where I am not praying for
:10:17. > :10:26.my sand to be home. We must remember the ones who came back
:10:26. > :10:30.alive. Over the past year we have seen
:10:30. > :10:35.some weather. Our region has been dried out, drenched and frozen. At
:10:35. > :10:38.Christmas we had temperatures of minus 15 Celsius, then at the start
:10:38. > :10:43.of October we had temperatures in the high twenties. What is going
:10:43. > :10:49.on? Is it down to global warming or just a bit of a blip?
:10:49. > :10:55.The Great British weather - it was until quite recently seen as fairly
:10:55. > :10:59.predictable - warmish in the summer, cold in the winter, no extremes.
:10:59. > :11:02.Over the past year it has been more like a climate roller-coaster. I
:11:02. > :11:07.have been following the weather with all its ups and downs across
:11:07. > :11:16.the year and across the East. I ask: Could it be linked to climate
:11:16. > :11:21.change? Last winter, with plant --
:11:21. > :11:31.temperatures plunging to minus 18 degrees, colder than Helsinki, the
:11:31. > :11:37.
:11:37. > :11:42.There was travel chaos across the region in what was the coldest
:11:42. > :11:46.winter in Britain for over 100 years. Temperatures are going to
:11:46. > :11:52.struggle to get above freezing all day. Most places will be below
:11:52. > :12:02.freezing. With this moderate north- westerly wind it is going to feel
:12:02. > :12:12.
:12:12. > :12:21.bitterly cold Mack. -- Cold. It was bitterly cold. I cannot find
:12:21. > :12:26.words to describe it. I was amazed. I had never seen anything like that
:12:26. > :12:31.low. It is the lowest temperature I have ever recorded in 40 years of
:12:31. > :12:39.recording temperatures. The cold almost killed off the
:12:39. > :12:45.sugar beet harvest. You have this soft mossy material. This liquid is
:12:45. > :12:51.basic labour should go decomposing. How much of that can be used?
:12:51. > :12:54.Probably 50% at the most. I know people who have worked in this
:12:54. > :12:59.industry for 40 years and who have never seen anything like this.
:12:59. > :13:03.has been a year of extremes, one of the coldest winters on record,
:13:03. > :13:07.followed by an exceptionally dry spring. By early summer, East
:13:07. > :13:12.Anglia became so dry it was the only region in the country to be
:13:12. > :13:17.officially declared a drought zone by the Environment agency. Rainfall
:13:17. > :13:22.in some areas was just 10% of the average and soils were drier than
:13:22. > :13:27.in the Middle East. Our rainfall is very similar to Israel. It is a
:13:27. > :13:31.very dry part of the world anyway. Going forward, are we going to have
:13:31. > :13:41.enough water and are we going to be able to meet customers'
:13:41. > :13:50.
:13:50. > :13:56.expectations? It is a big worry. Come July, the flood gates opened.
:13:56. > :14:01.During the summer isolated flash flooding unhinged the summer calm,
:14:01. > :14:05.with sporting events taking a direct hit from the rain. A
:14:05. > :14:14.friendly match between Norwich and Real Zaragosa took on an unexpected
:14:14. > :14:18.turn - a lightning strike plunged most of the ground into darkness.
:14:18. > :14:28.More than 70,000 people braved the weather at the MotoGP at
:14:28. > :14:32.
:14:32. > :14:37.Silverstone. Casey Stoner wins in a rain-sodden
:14:37. > :14:41.Silverstone. With Ed Sheeran headlining, the
:14:41. > :14:51.rain at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk did little to dampen the
:14:51. > :15:01.
:15:01. > :15:07.It is wonderful to see how many people turned up with their
:15:07. > :15:16.umbrellas. Despite this drenching, there was
:15:16. > :15:21.simply not enough rain to ease the drought. The summer rain arrived
:15:21. > :15:28.too late for the wheat harvest, which perished in some areas. But
:15:28. > :15:32.how do we explain this weather? Does our turbulent year mean it is
:15:32. > :15:42.really changing? Is climate change causing more extreme weather
:15:42. > :15:45.
:15:45. > :15:49.events? I have come to the British Antarctic Survey to find out. Based
:15:49. > :15:53.in Cambridge, it is one of the world's leading environmental
:15:53. > :15:57.research centres. With much of the research done in the Antarctic, the
:15:57. > :16:01.scientists look at the effect of global climate change and how that
:16:01. > :16:06.might impact on us here at home. We have had a year off pretty extreme
:16:06. > :16:11.weather, how one usual has that been? We have son -- seen some very
:16:11. > :16:17.unusual events. For instance, last December in the UK was the coldest
:16:17. > :16:24.on record. The three spring months in East Anglia were the driest ever
:16:24. > :16:27.on record. To have those two extreme events - the very cold
:16:27. > :16:32.winter followed by the exceptionally dry spring - how
:16:32. > :16:36.unusual is it to have those together? Obviously, if you have
:16:36. > :16:42.two events, each of which is unusual inside a year, that is a
:16:43. > :16:47.more unusual occurrence. Such things can occur just by chance. If
:16:47. > :16:51.you toss a coin 20 times in a role it would be very unusual to get 20
:16:51. > :16:59.heads coming up, but it can happen. Does it give an indication that it
:16:59. > :17:03.could be down to climate change, as -- climate change? It is difficult
:17:03. > :17:10.to say. Our climate models are only just becoming good enough for us to
:17:10. > :17:14.make any statements with any kind of confidence about that.
:17:14. > :17:18.Because we can't control events, perhaps what is more important is
:17:18. > :17:22.how we cope. We are increasingly finding small solutions to the ever
:17:22. > :17:25.bigger problems thrown at us. Because the weather was so
:17:25. > :17:30.difficult to predict and farmers were caught off guard, they are
:17:30. > :17:35.learning to adapt. The second sugar beet harvest going on at the moment
:17:35. > :17:39.is affected not by cold this time but by drought. The soils are so
:17:39. > :17:43.dry that, in order to protect the roots from breaking off, farmers
:17:43. > :17:48.are being selective about which fields to harvest first. It could
:17:48. > :17:53.end up being a bumper crop. Other farmers have found ingenious ways
:17:53. > :17:59.to tackle changing conditions. George Munns had chatterers in
:17:59. > :18:05.Cambridgeshire has built himself a 30 million gallon reservoir. --
:18:05. > :18:08.Chatteris. This water is here when there is
:18:09. > :18:12.the prospect of severe drought Slater run in the summer. There are
:18:12. > :18:17.also 12 other farmers licensed to take water from here. He has shored
:18:17. > :18:20.up the water for next year as well as he is not taking any chances. Is
:18:21. > :18:25.this a sign of the future? There may be some contribution from
:18:25. > :18:28.climate change and stop it could have occurred by chance. Does it
:18:28. > :18:32.sought a precedent -- set a precedent for next year? Could we
:18:32. > :18:38.have another year of extremes? is very difficult to make
:18:38. > :18:41.predictions that far ahead. I would not want to stick my neck out at
:18:41. > :18:45.this stage and make any prediction about what the coming -- the coming
:18:45. > :18:49.winter is likely to be like. As we approach another winter, the
:18:50. > :18:53.past year's unpredictability was not all on welcome. Remember, just
:18:53. > :18:58.six weeks ago we enjoyed these record-breaking temperatures, with
:18:58. > :19:02.deckchairs on the beach and 29 Celsius. It was definitely a high
:19:02. > :19:10.point. From the freezing cold of the winter to the searing heat of
:19:10. > :19:17.autumn, if the last year has taught us anything it is that long-term
:19:17. > :19:20.forecasting is challenging. Yesterday was, of course, you
:19:20. > :19:26.Remembrance Sunday, the day we remember those who died in the
:19:26. > :19:33.service of the country. -- Remembrance Sunday. In a few places,
:19:33. > :19:37.including here in East Carlton, the memorial tell a different story. --
:19:37. > :19:41.the memorials. The rolling countryside of
:19:42. > :19:45.Northamptonshire. Every now and then the countryside reveals
:19:45. > :19:49.another little village tucked away off the beaten track. Like many
:19:49. > :19:55.villages, this one sent men to fight in the Great War. What
:19:55. > :19:59.happened here is unusual. There is something special about this place.
:19:59. > :20:03.This is East Carlton Country Park, on the edge of the village. Nearly
:20:03. > :20:06.100 years ago all of this was owned by the lord of the manor who used
:20:06. > :20:15.to live here. Nearly all of the men who went to fight in the First
:20:15. > :20:19.World War from the village lived and worked right here. Life would
:20:19. > :20:27.have been very much different to how it is now. The only employment
:20:27. > :20:35.was the farms or a hall. There were quite a number of people who were
:20:35. > :20:40.servants. -- the hall. They would have about 10 or 12 servants. That
:20:40. > :20:45.would take a number of people. And then the rest would be farm workers.
:20:45. > :20:51.How do you think they would have felt going to war? I should think
:20:51. > :20:54.it would have been traumatic, just somebody to say, or you are leaving
:20:54. > :20:58.your family and you're going. And you do not know where you're going
:20:58. > :21:08.and there are so many people dying that you think, will I ever come
:21:08. > :21:09.
:21:09. > :21:13.back? It is an awful thought. My lots of men didn't come back. --
:21:13. > :21:17.lots of men didn't come back. turned out that men from East
:21:17. > :21:21.Carlton had nothing to fear. It is sad to think that in nearly every
:21:21. > :21:26.church in any village in the country you will see a memorial
:21:26. > :21:29.chiselled the stone with the names of those men who went to fight the
:21:29. > :21:39.First World War. They are the names of the bed, the ones who didn't
:21:39. > :21:39.
:21:39. > :21:42.come home. -- the names of the dead. This celebrates the fact that all
:21:42. > :21:49.of the men who went to the front line from this village came home
:21:49. > :21:59.safely. East Carlton is a thankful village. It is one of only 60 in
:21:59. > :22:02.the whole country. Tom Morgan has spent years researching it.
:22:02. > :22:10.phrase was coined by a very popular writer at the time, called Arthur
:22:10. > :22:14.Mead. He published a series of books called The In's England. He
:22:14. > :22:18.travelled the country, pointing out interesting architectural features.
:22:18. > :22:22.He pointed out that some of the villages were thankful villages, a
:22:22. > :22:30.phrase that he point. Back in 1914, this village was even
:22:30. > :22:34.smaller. Only 87 people live here. Seven of them joined up. In 1914
:22:34. > :22:38.men of fighting age were volunteering to go to the trenches.
:22:38. > :22:45.The seven who signed up from East Carlton joined six separate
:22:45. > :22:50.regiments. It would have been a time of great enthusiasm. There was
:22:50. > :22:55.an enormous wave of enthusiasm in 1914 and 1915 for a variety of
:22:55. > :22:59.reasons. They thought it would be an adventure and they wanted to be
:22:59. > :23:03.in it because all their friends were doing it. I think it was quite
:23:03. > :23:08.an optimistic start. As the war progressed that optimism was more
:23:08. > :23:11.difficult to tap into. By 1916 it had virtually gone and that is when
:23:11. > :23:15.conscription was brought in. What would like have been like for
:23:15. > :23:20.the men who did return? It must have been an extremely wonderful
:23:20. > :23:24.feeling to come home and everything was the same. Throughout the rest
:23:24. > :23:29.of the country there was a blanket of grief. I think there would have
:23:29. > :23:38.been an enormous feeling of thanksgiving, multiplied manifold
:23:38. > :23:43.compared to one family whose soldier came home. Imagine my
:23:43. > :23:47.gratitude in a whole community, even though it is small. Their joy
:23:47. > :23:51.must have been absolute. No-one was missing, they could go back to
:23:51. > :23:56.their jobs in agriculture. They were probably still needed, whereas
:23:56. > :23:59.in some of the industrial areas jobs have vanished. It must have
:23:59. > :24:09.been a unique experience compared to the experience that most men had
:24:09. > :24:12.when they came home. The people of East Carlton are very
:24:12. > :24:16.proud of their thankful village status. It is something that was
:24:16. > :24:20.celebrated at the end of the First World War and something they are
:24:20. > :24:27.still very proud of today. Arthur White is one of the men from the
:24:27. > :24:31.village who came back safely. John Wells is his great nephew. What do
:24:31. > :24:39.you know about your Great Uncle Arthur? He married, he got a wife
:24:39. > :24:46.called Hannah. I think he had five or six children. He was a big
:24:46. > :24:49.family man, I think. He worked for a living on the farm and, basically,
:24:49. > :24:53.when the First World War came, they were called up to serve their
:24:53. > :24:58.country. They are proud of what they did but they never spoke about
:24:58. > :25:02.what happened. I think it must have been the traumas of the actual war.
:25:02. > :25:12.Are you quite proud that you have this family history? I am very
:25:12. > :25:13.
:25:13. > :25:18.proud that I have this achievement. When you think of all the ones that
:25:18. > :25:22.perished, all to come from one community and all to come back
:25:22. > :25:26.safely is incredible. The idea of creating memorials for
:25:26. > :25:29.those who survive war is still important today. Nearly 100 years
:25:29. > :25:33.after the First World War, British troops are engaged in very
:25:33. > :25:38.different types of warfare. Of course, the dangers are still the
:25:38. > :25:42.same. At the moment there are 9,000 troops serving in Afghanistan from
:25:42. > :25:45.Britain. This is Russell Bari from Brackley
:25:45. > :25:55.in Northamptonshire. His son is serving in the army. He has fought
:25:55. > :25:56.
:25:56. > :26:01.in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every day, every minute that goes by, you are
:26:01. > :26:08.thinking of your son. I am very proud that he was over there. I am
:26:08. > :26:10.always proud. You miss him so much. The feeling you get when they go
:26:10. > :26:15.away and you're taking them to Brize Milton and you see them
:26:15. > :26:25.walking into the terminal is one you never forget. The stress, the
:26:25. > :26:27.
:26:27. > :26:32.worry, the fear, the laugh all comes to you -- the Love.
:26:32. > :26:37.Can you sympathise with parents who had sons going to fight in the
:26:37. > :26:41.first four workers were I can, very much. The First World War was one
:26:41. > :26:45.where they went away and they did not know whether they were coming
:26:45. > :26:50.back for months or even years. I do feel that they were in the same
:26:50. > :26:53.position as me. I saw my son go out of the country, possibly not to
:26:53. > :26:57.come back again. During the First World War there
:26:57. > :27:01.was no media coverage. People did not know what was going on. Now we
:27:01. > :27:07.see a lot of coverage. Do you think that is a good thing? No, I think
:27:07. > :27:14.it is quite a bad thing to know that on menus every day you hear of
:27:14. > :27:21.a young lad dying or being badly wounded, losing limbs. In the First
:27:21. > :27:26.World War they went away and you just did not know anything at all.
:27:26. > :27:35.With respect to the people in the first of war, I think it would have
:27:35. > :27:39.been better for us now owe not to know what is going on. Russell's
:27:39. > :27:45.son is home and will soon be discharged from the army. Just like
:27:45. > :27:50.the people of East Carlton in 1918, his father is very thankful. There
:27:50. > :27:58.is not a day goes by where I am not thankful for my son to be home. We
:27:58. > :28:08.must learn a lesson from our other villagers. Although we remember the
:28:08. > :28:11.
:28:11. > :28:13.dead, we must remember the ones That is up for this week. If you
:28:13. > :28:17.have missed any of tonight's programme you can watch it again on
:28:18. > :28:26.the iPlayer. If there is something you think we should investigate,
:28:26. > :28:30.send me an e-mail. You can also follow me on Twitter. I will see
:28:30. > :28:34.you next week. I will be back with the surprising stories.
:28:34. > :28:38.Next week we investigate what happened to the �50 million grant
:28:38. > :28:42.to improve the lives of Lytton residents. They have no faith any
:28:42. > :28:46.more. They have lost hope. They have been promised so much in the