The Harrington review on the much criticised Work Capability Assessment has brought a welcome from the Government, restrained rather than enthusiastic and, says Sunil Peck, mixed responses from elsewhere
The coalition Government has said that it is delighted to fully endorse recommendations to make the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), a fairer and more effective means of determining eligibility to unemployment benefit for disabled people.
But campaigners, who have broadly welcomed the review, nevertheless have warned that unemployed disabled people will continue to be unfairly assessed and will be wrongly assessed as being fit for work, while others will lose out on additional support to find work.
Some others argue that the review’s findings are a straw in the wind, the first indication that the Government’s approach to welfare reform may be starting to unravel or at least be fundamentally flawed.
The independent review is the first of five statutory annual reviews of the WCA and was carried out by Professor Malcolm Harrington, an occupational health specialist.
Professor Harrington found that the assessment which decides whether someone will receive Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is failing because questionnaires are “lengthy” and sometimes difficult or impossible to fill in, and that assessments fail people with fluctuating conditions because they rely on stock questions such as whether or not a claimant can load a washing machine.
The review has put forward 25 recommendations including the introduction of mental health specialists in medical assessment centres to spread good practice; reducing reliance on the medical assessments and giving more power to job centre staff; improving communications and the level of support provided to those who undergo a WCA and ensuring the medical assessment is transparent by, subject to an initial pilot, recording all assessments.
The Minister for Employment Chris Grayling said that Professor Harrington’s review was a “crucial” step to helping thousands of people into work.
He said: “It’s in everyone’s interest that we get the WCA right and Professor Harrington’s recommendations will make the assessment fairer and more effective.”
The coalition Government has not set a timetable for the implementation of the recommendations, but only a few of them are expected to be in place by this April when people currently claiming Incapacity Benefit will be reassessed at a rate of ten thousand a week.
Dr Mark Baker, Co-Chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium, said: “The extent of the review’s recommendations clearly indicate that the current WCA process is deeply flawed and the Government needs to make sure that, once they have implemented the recommendations, these issues are fully resolved.
They should not proceed with moving claimants of older incapacity benefits onto ESA, via the WCA, until it is clear that the assessment is working fairly and effectively.”
Neil Coyle, Director of Policy at Disability Alliance, said that the coalition Government’s response would not reassure disabled people that the system would be made fairer because of a desire in the DWP to cut the number of ESA claimants.
Commenting on the uncertainty over how long the Government might take to implement the recommendations, he said: “Thousands of disabled people will remain inadequately served by the test and inappropriately directed to insufficient support. Costs to taxpayers will continue to rise through high numbers of avoidable appeals and DWP incurring avoidable costs.”
Richard Hawkes (pictured), Chief Executive of Scope, said that he hoped that the recommendations would increase disabled people’s confidence in the WCA.
But he added: “Disabled people face a myriad of barriers to employment, from practical to social and psychological. We urge Professor Harrington to make it his priority to look at how the WCA takes into consideration all of these barriers and therefore give a more accurate representation of someone’s likelihood to get a job.”
Professor Harrington will carry out the second review of the WCA this year and has pledged to look at issues including how it tests people with fluctuating conditions.
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