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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to
reform the Work Capability Assessment.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Work and Pensions (Baroness Buscombe) (Con)
My Lords, we consulted on work capability assessment reform
in the Improving Lives Green Paper and have committed in our
manifesto to building more personalised and tailored
employment support to help disabled claimants and those with
health conditions to return to work where appropriate. We
continuously seek to improve the WCA, including recently
stopping reassessments for claimants with the most severe and
lifelong health conditions and disabilities. We will set out
further plans in due course.
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(LD)
I am grateful for that Answer and am glad that there is some
progress. However, does the Minister agree that the WCA is
particularly bad at assessing whether people with more than
one impairment—constant pain, for example—are capable of
doing jobs in the real world of work and not just theoretical
jobs? Will she undertake to ensure that the assessment will
be underpinned by rigorous research into the kinds of jobs
that people with limited capability for work could do? Also,
will she ensure that any new legislation in this area is
piloted first?
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The noble Baroness will know that this is the fifth review of
the work capability assessment since it was introduced in
2008. It is important to continually reassess and review the
way the assessment is carried out. That is why since April,
when we rolled out the new PSP—the personal support package
for people with health conditions, which may include having
one or more conditions—we have recruited 300 new disability
employment advisers and 200 community partners, as well as
introducing peer support job clubs in 71 jobcentres. We have
allocated £15 million to the flexible support fund, made
changes to the permitted work rules and have almost completed
the rollout of the health and work conversation. This is in
line with our ambition to provide a support system that can
be tailored to individuals’ needs.
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(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the Prime Minister
has accepted that the system is still flawed. There have been
five reviews. I follow on from the earlier question: do we
not need a pilot to make sure that this review actually
works?
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My Lords, the Improving Lives Green Paper was published in
October 2016. I am pleased that we received around 6,000
consultation responses supported by 166 accessible events
across the country. That is good; it is all about us
listening to people, to understand what is truly needed and
how we can tailor support to meet the needs of different
people. Since the Green Paper consultation, our officials
have been working hard to analyse that fantastic response. We
are working towards an autumn publication which will set out
our response to the consultation and how it has informed what
we are going to do next.
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of Dalston (CB)
My Lords, to ensure that the work capability assessment is
fit for purpose, will the Government undertake to carry out a
thorough inquiry into the alarming reports that assessors are
disregarding evidence of unfitness to work put before them by
claimants; and that claimants are even taking their own lives
as a result of the stress to which they are subjected by work
capability assessments, something which has been confirmed by
coroners’ findings?
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My Lords, it is important to point out that we are talking
about approximately 2.4 million claimants who make up the
employment support allowance caseload. Obviously the
references made by the noble Lord to particular individuals
are of concern, but the nominal expenditure forecast for
2017-18 is £15.3 billion. In that case, we have to proceed
with care in the changes we make, to ensure that the delivery
of assessments works for everyone. Since the Centre for
Health and Disability Assessments took over the contract to
carry out assessments in 2015, a number of improvements have
been made to claimants’ experience of them. The number of
HCPs has been increased by 68%—
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Noble Lords
Too long.
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I am sorry, but I think that noble Lords would like a clear
explanation. Since August 2017, the centre has ensured that
claimants go through the assessment process more quickly and
increased the number of mental health champions it employs,
as well as appointed a head of customer experience.
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(Lab)
My Lords, two noble Lords have asked specifically about
piloting any revised work capability assessment. Will the
Minister now answer that question about piloting?
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My Lords, I hear what noble Lords are saying in relation to
piloting. As I have said, our officials are working hard to
consider the next steps. I will take that suggestion back to
them. They are thinking about all the future plans and taking
into account the concerns of all the 6,000 people who
responded to the consultation. Of course, if there is a wish
to have more pilots, I am convinced that my department will
look at that.
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(LD)
My Lords, if the Minister is bringing forward plans, that is
extremely welcome, but before she makes any positive changes
will she look at the Ministry of Justice employment tribunal
statistics that were published last month? They show a rate
of successful overturn on appeal in ESA cases of 68%.
Further, the mean period for the disposal of a case is now 20
weeks, which is three weeks longer than last year. These are
important things that need to be remedied in any plans she
brings forward, so a review is fundamentally and urgently
needed now.
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My Lords, we are committed to ensuring that people have the
best support possible. That is why we have allocated £330
million for new voluntary employment support for people with
limited capability for work over four years, starting with
this year. The current system fails to provide the right
incentives and support to help disabled people and those with
health conditions toward and into work. Those people deserve
better.
