Guidance

ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessment policies and statements

Policies and statements related to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA): outcomes of Work Capability Assessment statistics.

Updates to this page

Published 25 March 2014
Last updated 14 September 2023 + show all updates
  1. Published a revised 'methodology and quality statement' (now dated September 2023). The document has been updated throughout to reflect that (from September 2023) the ESA outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics are badged as Official Statistics. The latest release of the statistics has been published today, 14 September 2023.

  2. Published a revised 'background information document' and 'methodology and quality statement' (both now dated June 2021). The background information document has revised information about COVID-19 operational changes, and the methodology and quality statement has revised information about appeals data from the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS). These have been revised to support the latest release of outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics (also published today, 10 June 2021).

  3. Published a revised background information document and methodology and quality statement (both now dated March 2021). These have been revised to support the latest release of outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics (also published today, 11 March 2021).

  4. Published a revised methodology and quality statement (now dated January 2021). Revised to support the latest release of outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics (also published today, 14 January 2020).

  5. Published a revised methodology and quality statement (now dated March 2020) in both HTML and PDF formats. Revised to support the latest release of outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics (also published today, 12 March 2020).

  6. Published a revised methodology and quality statement, now dated December 2019. Changes to document include an intention to review and revise the methodology for matching ESA-WCA appeals to ESA-WCA data. This includes information about the quality of the current matching process.

  7. Published a revised methodology and quality statement, now dated August 2019. This includes revised information about clearance times.

  8. Revised methodology and quality statement - dated September 2018. This includes new information on medical condition and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes.

  9. Revised methodology and quality statement - now dated June 2018. This includes information on new initial clearance times statistics and more geographical breakdowns covering Work Capability Assessment outcomes.

  10. Revised methodology and quality statement - dated September 2017. This includes information on new clearance times statistics, which were published for the first time on 14 September 2017.

  11. Revised version of Methodology and quality statement: ESA outcomes of Work Capability Assessment - the new version is dated March 2017.

  12. Published a 'Methodology and Quality Statement' (dated 2016). This single publication replaces the 2 documents 'Methodology statement: ESA outcomes of Work Capability Assessment' and 'Quality statement: ESA outcomes of Work Capability Assessment'.

  13. Published background information document.

  14. First published.

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