New regulations, which change the work capability assessment test (WCA)for both existing employment and support allowance claimants (ESA) and those being migrated onto ESA from incapacity benefit (IB), severe disablement allowance (SDA) and income support (IS), came into effect on 28 March 2011.

The Employment and Support Allowance (Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work- Related Activity) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/228) amend Schedules 1 and 2 of the Employment and Support Regulations 2008. These schedules respectively contain the rules for the limited capability for work test and the limited capability for work related activity test.

The regulations will apply to all assessments made from 28 March 2011 except where a claimant has been sent a questionnaire (esa 50) which asks questions based on the previous WCA rules. In these cases the old (pre 28 March 2011) rules apply. This exception will only apply for six months.

New WCA handbook

Following the introduction of the revised WCA a revised WCA handbook has been published- This training guide is used by Health Care Professionals carrying out employment and support allowance assessments and can be downloaded from the link below.

More information

• si 2011/228 - legislation. gov.uk website
• new disability test is a complete mess - Guardian article (22 February 2011)
• revised wca handbook

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/wcanew.htm