Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment Statistical Release
The first official statistics on the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment were published on Tuesday 13th October at 0930, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
This release presents outcomes of the Work Capability Assessment for each monthly cohort of ESA claims up to February 2009. In addition, these statistics show outcomes of all completed Work Capability Assessments, by month of assessment, to August 2009. These statistics also include some early data on appeals against ‘fit for work’ assessments heard by the Tribunals Service.
The key points from this release are:
- Of 195,000 new claims to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) between 27th October 2008 and 28th February 2009, 5% were assessed as suitable for the ESA Support Group, 11% were assessed as suitable for the ESA work related activity group and 36% were assessed as fit for work. The remaining 48% either left ESA before completing the assessment or are still in progress.
- Of the 189,800 completed Work Capability Assessments up to 31st August 2009, 10% have been assessed as suitable for the ESA Support Group, 22% have been assessed as suitable for the work related activity group and 69% were assessed as fit for work. (These percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding)
- Initial data on outcomes of appeals heard by the Tribunals Service shows that 69% of DWP decisions have been upheld. This is very limited data at this stage as it only includes the outcomes of 4,900 appeals.
To access the latest release in full click here
Coverage: Great Britain
Next release date: to be announced