Inclusion London’s response to the Select Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into the Employment Support Allowance and the Work Capability Assessment

Inclusion London’s position regarding WCA 2.1) Inclusion London agrees with British Medical Association which said that the WCA should be ended, ‘with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause unavoidable harm…..’[1]. 2.2) Inclusion London also agrees with Dame Anne Begg that, “There is something fundamentally wrong with […]

Inclusion London’s position regarding WCA

2.1) Inclusion London agrees with British Medical Association which said that the WCA should be ended,

‘with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause unavoidable harm…..’[1].

2.2) Inclusion London also agrees with Dame Anne Begg that,

“There is something fundamentally wrong with the system and the contract that Atos is delivering”.[2] Also that “It is not something that can be fixed by a few tweaks here and there; we tried that with the Harrington review.”[3]

2.3) We believe the whole ESA assessment system fails disabled people because it is driven by government’s mission to reduce the number of people on benefits rather than a genuine attempt to assess whether a disabled person is prevented from working due to their impairment and what support is needed to find employment. This explains the anomaly in claimants being found fit for work by WCA but not immediately ‘work ready’ for health reasons by the work-focused health related assessment, which assesses the support needed to help claimants move into work

[1] http://bma.org.uk/news-views-analysis/news/2012/june/scrap-work-capability-assessment-doctors-demand

[2] http://annebegg.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/atos-debate-speech-transcript/

[3] http://annebegg.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/atos-debate-speech-transcript/

 

Download the full response below.

Inclusion London’s Evidence ESA WCA Inquiry March 2014