Introduction of the Work Capability Assessment
The Personal Capability Assessment (PCA) is the medical assessment process used to assess individuals’ eligibility for incapacity benefits. As part of welfare reform proposals and the introduction of Employment and Support Allowance the assessment has been reviewed, to transform it into a more positive assessment of mental and physical capability and of the support an individual needs to help them work. The new process, called the Work Capability Assessment, is applied to people who claim Employment and Support Allowance.
Healthcare professionals and representatives from Trade Unions, charities and disability organisations have worked with DWP on this review. The outcome is a much improved medical assessment process that:
- re-focuses physical function descriptors and scores, to better reflect each individual's functional capability
- expands the mental function assessment to better reflect the problems of people with cognitive and intellectual impairment
- changes the scoring system for the mental health assessment to provide parity between the scoring for mental and physical function assessments
- improves evidence-gathering in support of the assessment
- develops the work-focused health-related assessment.
- Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment report (290KB)
September 2006
The revised assessment has been thoroughly tested.
- Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment – interim
report (740KB) was published in February 2007
- Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment – final
report 740KB) in
November 2007.
We began using the new assessment in Autumn 2008 for the new Employment and Support Allowance.
