Charities recommend major changes to WCA for claimants with fluctuating conditions

New report to feed into Professor Harrington's independent review

11 May, 2011

A group of six charities - the MS Society, the National AIDS Trust, Parkinson's UK, Arthritis Care, the Forward ME Group and Crohn's and Colitis UK - has recommended major changes to the work capability assessment (WCA) for claimants with fluctuating conditions, designed to feed into Professor Harrington's ongoing independent review of the assessment.

In the report, 'Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment review - Making it work for fluctuating conditions', the charities say that huge numbers of people across the UK with a fluctuating health condition have wrongly been found fit to work after undergoing the WCA. 

As a result, the charities make a number of recommendations designed to ensure that the processes of the WCA 'more accurately reflect the experiences and capabilities of many millions of people in the UK with fluctuating conditions', including -

• asking more questions in assessments to better understand how a fluctuating condition really impacts on someone’s ability to work;
• amending the wording of the test to ask whether people can complete activities ‘reliably, repeatedly and safely’ and, as appropriate, ‘within a reasonable amount of time’ and ‘without significant discomfort, breathlessness or fatigue’; and
• improving the test to recognise the barriers to work presented by pain, fatigue and cognitive problems.

Welcoming the report, Professor Harrington said -

'The group have done a terrific job, and I’m grateful to the MS Society for chairing and coordinating this work in such a tight timescale. I think this represents a real step forward in developing more relevant and effective questions in getting to a better, fairer WCA.'

Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment review - Making it work for fluctuating conditions is available from the MS Society website.

also refer http://benefits.tcell.org.uk/forums/charities-demand-overhaul-sickness-benefit-test