Policy paper

Government response to the Work Capability Assessment independent review – year 2

Government response to Professor Harrington's second independent review of the Work Capability Assessment

• From: Department for Work and Pensions and The Rt Hon Chris Grayling
• Published: 24 November 2011

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Government’s response to the independent review of the Work Capability Assessment – Year 2

Ref: ISBN 9780101822923, Cm. 8229

PDF, 445 KB, 25 pages

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Details

Professor Harrington was reappointed to lead the second independent review of the Work Capability Assessment in 2011.

We published his second independent review on 24 November 2011.

Work Capability Assessment independent review – year 2

His second review sets out a series of recommendations to the government based on the evidence he collected as part of the review and which build on and complement the recommendations from his first review. The main recommendations focus on:

• introducing checks on benefit decisions to ensure fairness and consistency
• working with disability groups to help develop guidance for Atos healthcare professionals and Jobcentre Plus Decision Makers
• improved support and communications for people who move onto Jobseeker’s Allowance to make sure they get the help they need
• regularly publishing data on performance and quality to improve the transparency of the face-to face assessment

The government responded to Professor Harrington’s review on 24 November 2011. It welcomed the findings and recommendations of the review – endorsing his suggestions.

The government response includes a detailed response to each of Professor Harrington’s 23 recommendations.

Published 24 November 2011