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Department for Work and Pensions
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Work is good for you: New medical test to assess work capability - Hain
A new medical test that will score a person's capability to work is announced by Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain today - as part of his drive to end sick-note Britain.
The new test, published today for the first time, is more robust, accurate and fairer. Fifty per cent of those who take the assessment will not pass it, meaning that 20,000 fewer people a year will enter 'sickness' benefits as a result, and will instead be given the support and skills they need to get a job.
Called the Work Capability Assessment, the test will be introduced in October 2008 alongside the new Employment and Support Allowance and will be applicable for all those people claiming the new allowance. It will replace the current Personal Capability Assessment, which is weighted more towards a person's physical disability and bases itself around assessing people's incapability for work.
The Work Capability Assessment will look at people's physical and mental ability, such as learning disabilities and other similar conditions. It will assess what an individual can do - rather than can't do. For example you will no longer score points simply because you are unable to walk more than 400 metres. Instead the new test will look at things like a person's ability to use a computer keyboard or a mouse, because this type of task is likely to be needed in the workplace.
The measures are being introduced as part of the Government's commitment to making sure that with the right support, everyone has the opportunity to go to work, even if they have a health condition or disability. There are currently 2.64 million working age people claiming incapacity benefits, which cost the country nearly twelve and a half billion pounds in 2006/7.
Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain said:
"We know that many people want to work - work is good for you and your long-term well-being and we don't think it's right that in the past people were effectively written off. We want to work with people to get them back into jobs and help them stay there.
"Currently, there are many people sitting at home in the belief that they are unemployable, with no life choices or long-term prospects because they do not think their illness or medical conditions can be catered for in the workplace. But this is just not the case - many people with such conditions are perfectly able to take up successful careers, if the right support is in place.
"That is why I have introduced the new assessment - it will not only accurately identify a person's physical and mental ability, it will offer advice on the type of help and support a person may need so that they can find sustainable work. But those who still qualify for the Employment and Support Allowance following the new assessment will benefit from more help and more support than ever before."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1 Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment - Technical Working Group's Phase 2 Evaluation Report is published on the DWP website at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/pca.asp
2 The Phase 1 report, a more limited study, was published in February 2007 and is also available on the website.
3 In 2006 the DWP commissioned an independent Technical Working Group to carry out a review of the Personal Capability Assessment, in consultation with a wider consultative group of stakeholders representing views of disabled people.
4 The Work Capability Assessment will replace the Personal Capability Assessment from October 2008.
5 The Employment and Support Allowance will replace Incapacity Benefits from October 2008.
Website http://www.dwp.gov.uk
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