Work Capability Assessment independent review – year three
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was introduced in October 2008 to assess entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Section 10 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007 commits the Secretary of State to lay an independent report before Parliament each year for the first five years of operation.
Improving the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) will be an ongoing process to ensure that the system works as well as possible for people going through it.
The short address for this page is www.dwp.gov.uk/wca-review
On 26 February 2013 the Secretary of State appointed Dr Paul Litchfield to undertake the fourth independent review.
We will publish further details on the review as it progresses.
Year 3 review
Professor Harrington was reappointed to lead the third independent review in 2012. His third review sets out a series of recommendations to the Government based on the evidence he collected as part of the review and which complement the recommendations from his first and second reviews. The main recommendations focus on:
- actively considering the need for further documentary evidence in every claimant’s case, and justifying it if this is not sought
- continuing to strive for an appropriate balance between quality decisions and achieving benchmarks
- working with the Tribunal Service to gather more quality feedback on decisions that have been overturned on appeal.
We published the year three review on 20 November 2012.
PDF version
RTF version
Welsh summary
The Government’s response to the year 3 review
The Government responded to Professor Harrington’s review on 20 November 2012.
In the response, the Government welcomes Professor Harrington’s findings and recommendations, endorsing each recommendation and describing how the Government will work towards achieving all of Professor Harrington’s recommendations.
Call for evidence (now closed)
As part of his third independent review of the Work Capability Assessment, Professor Harrington has launched a call for evidence that ran from 12 July 2012 to 7 September 2012.
