Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessment
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) replaced Incapacity Benefit and Income Support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27th October 2008. The introduction of ESA for new claimants in October 2008 was accompanied by a new assessment, the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The WCA is based on medical advice delivered by the Department for Work and Pension’s (DWP) medical services contractor, ATOS Healthcare. This publication reports on latest available data on ESA claims that which are assessed by the WCA.
ESA claimants’ longer term entitlement to claim the benefit is dependent on the outcome of the WCA. The possible outcomes of the WCA are that claimants can be assessed as: a) suitable for the ESA Support Group, b) suitable for the ESA Work Related Activity Group or c) fit for work and therefore not entitled to continue claiming, although there is a right of appeal.
