ME Association: The Work Capability Assessment: proposed abolition and open consultation
October 17, 2023
The government has proposed the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment, and the Department of Work and Pensions is moving ahead with changes to the current assessment descriptors. In this blog, we provide background to these changes and to the stakeholder consultation which has a deadline 30 October. We have set out the charity’s position below, and we will provide guidance and recommendations on the consultation itself in a separate blog.
ME Association Statement
While we welcome any increase in opportunities for disabled people to return to and remain in the workforce, we are very concerned that the government is basing much of these changes on the belief that there are more remote or home-working jobs available and that they are suitable for people with disabilities including ME/CFS and Long Covid.
There has been no related research, and it seems very unfair to introduce the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) or make changes to the existing activities and descriptors ahead of the abolition without first establishing that these work opportunities are available or that the changes being suggested will not disadvantage people in desperate need of continued welfare support.
It is not clear how many remote working jobs exist or the proportion of them that are suited to people with disabilities. Working requires routine attendance and productivity, which can be very real challenges for people with fluctuating conditions, for example, who don’t know if their cognitive or physical health will remain stable. The decision when and how to return to work should be with the person who is disabled. It shouldn’t be something that is taken away from them.
Recent data from the
Office for National Statistics (the only research available) reveals that far more people who are able to work from home are working hybrid positions – where they are at home for some of the time and office-based for the remainder (often the majority). A hybrid position may not be suitable for someone with a disability, whose mobility, for example, is a concern and who is unable to travel.
While some people may benefit from opportunities to work from home, this is not the case for all. The ONS found that 75% of people on the lowest income were not able to work from home, and that the rate of disabled people working from home is not significantly higher than the rate of non-disabled people working from home.
This suggests that opportunities to work from home are not open to everyone, in particular those on the lowest incomes who are more likely to be claiming Universal Credit. The risk here is that people are assessed as being fit for work, or as having limited capability for work, but are not put in the support group, under the assumption that they are able to find a job which allows them to work from home.
It should also be noted that, although the intention of the White Paper appears to be to have fewer people in the support group, changing the goal posts of the WCA may also lead to more people being found to be fit for work, and facing higher levels of work conditionality than they would have previously.
Furthermore, we are concerned about putting pressure on a community which is already very socially isolated to spend more time at home. Although
ONS data suggests that home working can have a positive effect on wellbeing, this data is a snapshot of the whole population. For people who have fewer opportunities to socialise, pressure to work from home may have a negative impact on wellbeing.
It can mean, for example, that disabled people put all their effort into working and have little left for other equally important activities, or that they need to spend money to employ carers to do more so that they can work. The government should gather evidence about the impact of home working on disabled people in particular, and how they can be supported to make use of new opportunities in a way that promotes their health and wellbeing.
We know that a lot of people with ME/CFS and Long Covid struggle to access disability benefits, and it is not uncommon to have a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim reduced or withdrawn following review. The
most recent statistics on PIP show that 21% of PIP awards were stopped following a review. We also know that, when people challenge DWP benefit decisions, they are often successful. According to
recent tribunal statistics, 63% of claims brought to the social security and child support tribunal were overturned in the claimant’s favour.
If the WCA were to be abolished, this would mean that, if an individual lost their PIP, they could also lose the new UC health element. We are concerned that this proposal may lead to people losing a large proportion of their income overnight after being wrongly assessed as not having entitlement to PIP.
Although the White Paper does state that the government remains committed to a contribution-based health and disability benefit, which is currently the New Style Employment Support Allowance (NS-ESA), it does not make it clear what would happen to NS-ESA if the WCA were to be abolished. If NS-ESA entitlement is linked to PIP entitlement, this could mean that if an individual lost their PIP, they could also lose their NS-ESA, which would be an even larger proportion of a person's income.
In conclusion, we do not believe that the increase in home-working – triggered by the pandemic – has been proven in terms of an increase in job opportunities for disabled people and we are concerned that the government’s decision to abolish the WCA in 2026 is based on an assumption rather than hard facts.
It seems that despite any good intention the main driver behind these reforms is to save money, when all the evidence indicates that there are more long-term sick or disabled people in need of support than ever before. While we can see the benefit of having one medical assessment, we are worried that changes to current WCA descriptors will mean more people on low incomes will lose financial support and will be unable to find suitable work despite the possibility of working from home.
