Summary
The Work and Pensions Committee supports the reassessment of incapacity benefit claimants but urges the Government to express its positive intentions more clearly to the public.
The report 'The Role of Incapacity Benefit Reassessment in Helping Claimants into Employment’ (HC 1015) details how adequate support will continue for people who have limited capability for work or are unable to work, but these objectives are not being promoted to the general public.
The incapacity benefit (IB) reassessment will help current claimants - people with disabilities and long-term health conditions - to move back into employment.
The report argues that the Government should be more proactive in explaining its aims for the process and in emphasising the range of support which will be available.
The inquiry looked in detail at the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), the test which is used to assess whether an incapacity benefit claimant is capable of work, or work-related activity.
It is widely accepted that the WCA was flawed in the form in which it was introduced in 2008 for new Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants, leading to a high proportion of inaccurate assessments and poor decisions by Jobcentre Plus. Many of these decisions were overturned at appeal.
The report acknowledges that many welcome improvements have been made to the reassessment process as a result of the review by Professor Malcolm Harrington and the trial of the process carried out in Aberdeen and Burnley, before it was introduced nationally.
WCAs are carried out by Atos Healthcare as part of a contract with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
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